No immediate hearing of Imran Khan's plea in Toshakhana case, says Pakistan's Supreme Court

In a major blow to Imran Khan, the Supreme Court of Pakistan Wednesday refused to conduct an immediate hearing of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder in the Toshakhana case. PTI had filed a petition before the apex court seeking suspension of Imran’s conviction in the Toshakhana case, making it possible for him to take part in Pakistan elections 2024 scheduled for 8 February. The court observed that the suspension of the trial court verdict against Imran in the Toshakhana case cannot end his disqualification. The PTI chief was disqualified for five years from holding any public office due to his conviction in the case. The court, however, refused to fix the petition for hearing as only two judges of the SC were available owing to winter vacation. A two-member bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC), on 21 December, had rejected Imran’s request seeking suspension of the trial court’s verdict in the Toshakhana case. Justice Minallah said the matter before the bench was that conviction should be overturned following suspension of sentence in the case. “There is no judicial precedent in the country’s history that suspension of sentence led to the annulment of conviction,” he remarked. Imran was sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of Rs 100,000 was imposed on him by Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Humayun Dilawar on 5 August this year after the judge found him guilty of graft in the Toshakhana case. He has been convicted of misusing his position as prime minister to sell state gifts worth more than Rs 140 million ($490,000) that he received from foreign dignitaries during visits abroad. Following his conviction in the case, the ECP disqualified the former PM for five years. In a notification, the poll body said the PTI chief was disqualified after being found guilty of corrupt practices under Section 167 of the Elections Act, 2017 and his sentencing for three years. “As a consequence, Mr Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi has become disqualified under Article 63(1)(h) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan read with Section 232 of the Elections Act,2017,” the ECP had said in a notification released earlier this year. The IHC, however, on August 28, suspended the PTI chief’s sentence awarded to him in the Toshakhana case but his conviction and disqualification remain intact as the the high court rejected the petition to suspend the conviction. With inputs from agencies