Toshakhana case.

 

LAHORE     -   The Lahore High Court (LHC) Thursday issued notices to the Election Commission of Paki­stan (ECP) and other re­spondents for January 11 on a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan challenging a notice of the Commission on pro­ceedings to remove him from par­ty chairmanship after his disqual­ification in Toshakhana reference. 

The court also stopped the electoral watchdog from taking any coercive measures against Imran Khan in the matter, till the next date of hearing, besides seeking assistance from the at­torney general of Pakistan.

The single bench comprising Justice Jawad Hassan passed the orders while hearing the pe­tition filed by the PTI chairman.

Barrister Ali Zafar represented Imran Khan before the court and argued that the ECP issued the impugned notice to Imran Khan on proceedings to remove him from party chairmanship where­as it did not have any powers to hold such proceedings. 

However, the ECP’s counsel raised an objection and pointed out that a full bench had been formed on such a matter.

At this stage, the court re­marked that the petition had nothing to do with the matter and asked when Imran Khan re­signed from his seat in the Na­tional Assembly. 

Barrister Ali Zafar submitted that Imran Khan resigned from his seat in April 2022. He sub­mitted that the NA speaker sent a reference to the ECP against Imran Khan over concealing as­sets, He submitted that the ECP gave a verdict on the reference and disqualified Imran Khan. “We adopted a stance before the ECP that it could not give such a verdict as only a court could do so”, he added.

To a court query, Barrister Ali Zafar argued that the ver­dict had been challenged before the Islamabad High Court and it was still pending. 

The ECP’s counsel argued that the commission just decided the reference forwarded by the speaker. There is a provision in the Constitution for disqualifi­cation of any member and the matter was sent to the Commis­sion for the purpose, he added.

The court, after hearing initial arguments of the parties, issued notices to the respondents for January 11 and stopped the ECP from taking any coercive mea­sures against Imran Khan in the matter, till the next date of hear­ing. Chairman Pakistan Teh­reek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has demanded of the Chief Jus­tice of Pakistan to form an in­quiry committee headed by him to investigate the Wazirabad as­sassination attempt on his life. 

“I appeal to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to head an inquiry as I expect justice only from him. The powerful people will not allow the investigation to move forward,” he said in a televised press conference here.

Pointing finger at the alleged involvement of some people in the armed forces, the PTI chief said that although the Army was a top institution serving the country, but there were still some “black sheep” in every in­stitution.

He claimed that he had been informed of the alleged plan to kill him from people within the agencies. 

Imran Khan also claimed that it was a conspiracy hatched by two or three people. “I know that the army is making sacri­fices against terrorism on a dai­ly basis. We have faith in our se­curity forces. But action should be taken against ‘them’,” he said. 

He also talked of a plan B, like that of Salman Taseer’s murder to eliminate him. 

Without naming anybody, but accusing some persons of ob­structing justice, Imran Khan said that he wanted the per­son, who had planned to get him killed, to cooperate with the in­vestigation team. Khan lament­ed that the confessional video statement of the suspect Naveed was released almost immediate­ly even when he had not reached the hospital after the gun attack. He also alleged that Naveed was forced to make a statement that he was working all alone in a preplanned strategy. 

Khan alleged that the police took no time in recording the confessional video statement of the suspect and disseminat­ed the same to journalists and television channels who work against his party. He alleged that the DPO Gujarat recorded Nav­eed’s statement from his phone. He also said that Naveed was not a religious man as portrayed by his political opponents. He fur­ther said that according to the JIT’s finding, there were three shooters, not one, and the firing took place from above. He said a shooter also wanted to shoot Naveed. Imran Khan said that the JIT ordered Naveed’s foren­sics, but the agencies refused to give the data.

“There is a conspiracy to kill the head of the country and no federal agency is helping, even Punjab agencies. They are not cooperating…the question is who are involved… I know, I am leaving the question for the na­tion…. if this can happen to me, then what is the status of the rest of the people…it is clear that a law of the jungle prevails in Pakistan”.