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.