LAHORE/ ISLAMABAD  -  Former prime minis­ter and Pakistan Teh­reek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan Thurs­day claimed that he re­ceived a box containing a pair of shoes from one of his friends the other day, but the police were trying to make it a case of drugs dropped at his residence. 

“I was sent a box of shoes from someone I know; it was delivered to my house by their driv­er. Two days later, the police turned up at the driver’s house, harassed and threatened his poor family, forcing him to say that he came to de­liver a box of drugs at my place.”, the PTI chief said in a statement here without naming his friend. 

The PTI’s media wing also shared the picture of the shoes received at Khan’s res­idence. They look like walk­ing shoes (Joggers) the PTI chief is fond of wearing most of the time. Khan termed this alleged incident yet an­other attempt by the rulers to get him disqualified and put him in prison by impli­cating him in drug’s case. 

“This is what happens when criminals run a coun­try. Not only do they post crooks who are incompe­tent to important positions, but they also try to convince the nation that everyone is as crooked as them.”

Khan said it was a sign of desperation on the part of his detractors to get him punished by any means. “It shows the desperation of this criminal enterprise; just to get me disqualified or jailed, they are willing to fall to great depths,” Khan observed. 

Also, a lower court in Is­lamabad on Thursday granted a one-time exemp­tion from attendance to PTI Chairman in Toshakha­na criminal case and ad­journed further hearing till the next date. 

Additional District and Session Judge Hamayun Dil­awar heard the criminal case against the deposed prime minister. As the hear­ing began, Imran Khan’s counsel Barrister Gohar Ali Khan filed a request to the judge seeking a one-time ex­emption from attendance to his client and said that the PTI chairman couldn’t arrive here due to security issues. 

The judge remarked that it was the responsibility of concerned authorities to en­sure security arrangements. The court had conducted a total of 37 hearings in the Toshakhana case and the ac­cused had appeared in only three hearings, he said, add­ing that the defence lawyers were only used to file ex­emption requests. The law­yer said that he was filing an exemption from attendance request last time and prayed the court to adjourn further hearing till Monday, adding that last day they couldn’t get the detailed judgment in the identical case.

The judge asked that whether the lawyer was giv­ing commitment that the accused would appear on Monday to this Barrister Gohar said that he couldn’t give this assurance as he was only a counsel. The judge remarked that Imran Khan had to appear at ev­ery hearing, adding that the court was adjourning the case till Monday. 

ECP’s lawyer Amjad Per­vaiz opposed the request and said that as per the di­rectives of the top court, the appearance of an accused was essential during trials in criminal cases. The ex­emption could be granted only if the court gets satis­fied with it, he said. He said that the defence was claim­ing security risks in F-8 Kachehri but now it had the same concerns in the new building. 

The ECP lawyer said the application had not stat­ed that the PTI chairman would appear on Monday. 

During the hearing, Im­ran Khan’s lawyer also filed an application to the court seeking suspension of the proceeding till the decisions on a petition against evi­dence recording in the said case. 

ECP’s lawyer Amjad Per­vaiz contradicted the re­quest and said that such an application could be moved only before the cross-exam­ination against the witness­es, adding that these were just delaying tactics by the defence. 

After a recession, Imran Khan’s lawyer told the court that his client would appear before the court on the next hearing as per the senior counsel Khawaja Haris. 

The court accepted the two requests including ex­emption from appearance to Imran Khan and adjourn­ment of the case till Monday. However, the third applica­tion against recording the evidence by the prosecution was terminated.