SC turns down Imran's plea to stop trial court proceedings in Toshakhana case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday turned down a petition of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, seeking to restrain the trial court's proceedings in the Toshakhana case.

The PTI chief, who became the first prime minister of Pakistan to be voted out of office through a no-trust vote last year in April, had approached the top court after being denied relief from the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had, on October 21 last year, disqualified the former prime minister in the Toshakhana reference under Article 63(1)(p) of the Constitution for making "false statements and incorrect declaration".

In May this year, a trial court rejected his petition challenging the maintainability of the reference.

Not only that, but the court also indicted the PTI chief, who denied all the allegations of misdeclaration of gifts.

This was when the PTI chief challenged the trial court's decision before the IHC, which sent the case back to the trial court for re-examination within a span of seven days.

Following the order, the trial court upheld the maintainability of ECP's petition against the PTI chief on July 8 and proceeded further against the former premier, who then approached the apex court for relief.

During today's hearing, Justice Yahya Afridi of the two-member SC bench remarked that the apex court would not interfere in the trial court's matters in the Toshakhana case.

PTI chief's lawyer Khawaja Haris informed the court that there are multiple petitions — related to the jurisdiction of the trial court and transfer of the Toshakhana case — pending in the high court.

At this, Justice Afridi directed the IHC to hear Khan's all pending petitions together.

He said that it was not the SC's jurisdiction to hear the petition when there are related petitions sub-judice in the IHC.

"Court's jurisdiction is a major issue, it should be decided first," the justice remarked.

It may be noted that there are four petitions pending in the IHC. One relates to the latest trial court order while in two pleas the PTI chief has challenged the jurisdiction of the trial court to hear the Toshakhana case. In another petition, he has sought a transfer of the case.