Toshakhana corruption case: Pakistan court rejects Imran Khan’s plea to withdraw appeal against disqualification 

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s plea seeking the withdrawal of his appeal against his disqualification in the Toshakhana corruption case was rejected by the high court on Wednesday. Khan has been in jail since August 5 following a conviction in the case, where the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified him for not disclosing proceeds from the sale of gifts received from the state repository. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader had contested the decision, arguing that he legally acquired the assets and had no reason to omit the gifts from his assets statement. However, on January 18, the PTI filed a fresh plea in the IHC to withdraw the petition, saying the cricketer-turned-politician wanted the Lahore High Court (LHC) to hear the matter. A separate petition had been filed in the LHC against Khan’s disqualification. IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq on Wednesday announced the verdict which was reserved on September 13, rejecting Khan’s request to withdraw his petition against disqualification in the case. According to The News International newspaper, the court will announce its reserved judgment later on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the ECP reserved its verdict on a petition seeking to remove the former premier as the head of the PTI party due to his conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case. In November last year, the ECP found Khan guilty of not submitting accurate details of the gifts he got from the Toshakhana and disqualified him from public office. Later, he was convicted in the same case. Khan is currently jailed at the high-security Adiala prison in Rawalpindi since September 26 in the cipher case for allegedly leaking state secrets and violating the laws of the country. With inputs from PTI.