ISLAMABAD/LAHORE     -    The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has informed Islamabad High Court (IHC) yesterday that Chairman Pa­kistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan is not cooperat­ing with it in the inquiry of Toshakhana case.

The Bureau stated it before a division bench of IHC compris­ing Chief Justice Justice Aam­er Farooq and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz during hearing of the petitions filed by Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi against the NAB notices in the alleged corrupt practic­es of retaining state gifts.

During the hearing, NAB Deputy Prosecutor Gener­al Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi in­formed the bench that Imran Khan has been sent a ques­tionnaire and details of gifts he received from foreign digni­taries during his term as prime minister but he is deliberately avoiding the investigation.

He told the court that it had issued notices related to Toshakhana gifts to all former cabinet members and not just Imran Khan. Abbasi said that the PTI chief was not cooper­ating in the investigation.

At this, the IHC Chief Jus­tice stated that if the notices had been served in accordance with the rules, this situation could have been avoided. He emphasized the need for NAB to follow the law and rules when issuing notices, stating that accused individuals have the right to defend themselves.

Then, Justice Aamer asked the NAB to send a new notice to Imran and his wife after ful­filling all the rules. He ques­tioned that if the NAB had any evidence or the case was solely based on newspaper reports. 

Later, the bench deferred the hearing of the case till April 27 after directing NAB to submit a written reply within seven days.

Previously, the IHC bench had issued notices to the NAB and directed it to submit its re­sponse in this matter.

Imran Khan and his spouse had moved the court through their counsel Khawaja Haris Ad­vocate and Barrister Gohar Ali challenging the legality and vi­res of NAB call-up notice upon them in the Toshakhana inquiry case. In the petition, they chal­lenged the NAB case initiated against them for retaining and ‘illegally’ selling the Toshakha­na gifts. The NAB issued notices to Khan and Bushra for retain­ing state gifts. The anti-corrup­tion watchdog sought details from them including of wrist­watches and a mobile phone, presented to Khan by various foreign dignitaries. The Bureau also sought details of jewellery sets presented to Bushra Bibi, including a Rloex watch, a gold and diamond locket presented by Emir of Qatar, two necklace sets gifted by the Saudi crown prince on September 18, 2020, and May 21, 2021, respectively. 

In the identical petitions, the petitioners prayed to the court that NAB had issued the notice in violation of Section 19 of the National Accountability Ordi­nance.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Teh­reek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Friday said the ju­dicial magistrate handed over Ali Amin Gandapur to Punjab Police on orders of “Namaloom” (unknowns) in sheer violation of the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) order. In a statement on Friday, the PTI chairman strong­ly condemned the way PTI se­nior leader Ali Amin Gandapur was being treated clearly on or­ders of the “Namaloom”.

Imran Khan said that despite IHC inductive order viz hand­ing over custody, he was handed over to Punjab police by Judicial Magistrate at 11 40 pm the oth­er day in brazen violation of IHC Court order.

Talking about division with­in the judiciary, PTI Chairman said that everyone should pray for unity among the judges in the Supreme Court and warned that division at the top court would be tragic. Imran Khan stated that the division among the apex court would be a trage­dy for the country.

“Unless we do not save the Constitution, you cannot save the country either,” he added.

Lashing out the imported gov­ernment for running away from elections, the PTI Chairman reit­erated that these cabal of crooks did not care about the Consti­tution and the law, as they just wanted to secure another NRO to save their own skins.

Imran Khan went on to say that constructive criticism of institutions was a hallmark of democracy, and society ruined without criticizing and high­lighting the wrongdoings of the institutions.

The PTI Chairman said that democracy flourished across the world because freedom of expression and dictatorship fast faded away since there was no place for constructive criticism.

Imran Khan alarmed that PTI’s leaders and workers were being disappeared to frighten and ter­rorize our people, as their hous­es were being raided, adding that a country became a banana republic without rule of law. Talking about PTI flagship Bil­lion Tree Tsunami program, PTI Chairman shared past and pres­ent pictures of Agror, an area of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on his twitter account and stat­ed that for the first time, the greening of Pakistan happened on such a massive scale.

Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday granted protective bail to Pakistan Teh­reek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Im­ran Khan till April 26 in a case, registered at Ramna police sta­tion, Islamabad.

The single bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi heard the petition, filed by Imran Khan, who also remained pres­ent during the proceedings.

During the proceedings, Im­ran’s counsel read out the FIR and submitted that his client wanted to appear before the court concerned, but feared for his arrest. He pleaded with the court to grant the benefit of pro­tective bail to his client to en­able him to appear before the court concerned.

At this, the court granted pro­tective bail to the PTI chairman till April 26 and directed him to appear before the court con­cerned. On April 6, the Ramna police registered a case against Imran Khan on a complaint of Magistrate Manzoor Ahmed un­der Section of 500, 505 and 138 of the Pakistan Penal Code, for using inappropriate language against the institutions.