Pak court adjourns hearing on Imran Khan's petition against conviction in Toshakhana case until August 24

The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday adjourned until Thursday the hearing on a petition filed by Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Imran Khan challenging his conviction and sentence in the Toshakhana corruption case.

Judge Humayun Dilawar of the Islamabad-based sessions court on August 5 found the 70-year-old chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party guilty of corrupt practices and sentenced him to three years in jail in the case. Khan was arrested from Lahore on the same day he was convicted and shifted to Attock district jail.

The case was launched last year in October on the complaint of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) which had earlier disqualified Khan in the same case.

Khan challenged the conviction in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), seeking to suspend his sentence and overturn the judgment.

When the hearing began on Tuesday, the ECP Lawyer Amjad Pervez stated that he had not been provided with the record of the case. 'I request the court to give me time to prepare my case for arguments,” he said.

Khan’s lawyer Latif Khosa opposed the move by the ECP counsel, saying "I oppose his request for more time.”

Khosa pressed for a hearing and requested for the suspension of the sentence of Khan.

However, the panel of judges comprising IHC Chief Justice Amer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri granted the request of the ECP lawyer and adjourned the hearing until Thursday.

The suspension of Khan's conviction will result in his release from the jail.

Khan's party confirmed to PTI that the hearing has been adjourned until Thursday.

His troubles may not end any time soon as, according to his party, over 200 cases have been filed against him since his ouster from power in April 2022, and he could be convicted in some of those cases.

One such case is called the Al-Qadir Trust case about the alleged misappropriation of Rs 50 billion by Khan.

The government last week filed a case against him for violating the official secret laws by publicising a secret cable sent by the embassy in Washington in March last year.

Khan had waved a document at a rally days before his ouster from office, calling it proof of a conspiracy to oust his government by the United States but later he changed his stance and accused former army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa of allegedly orchestrating his downfall.

His close aide and two-time former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was arrested in the same case over the weekend.

On Monday, the Supreme Court formed a three-member bench to hear appeals related to Toshakhana case on August 23.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justices Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Jamal Mandokhel, will hear the petitions filed by Khan. He had challenged the decision of the Islamabad High Court to refer the Toshakhana case to district and sessions judge Humayun Dilawar.

The Toshakhana is a department under the Cabinet Division that stores gifts given to rulers and government officials by heads of other governments and foreign dignitaries.

Khan's conviction and sentencing means he is disqualified from contesting upcoming general elections.

If the former cricketer-turned-politician is absent from the political scene, the prospects for his party appear to be gloomy in the general elections due to take place later this year.