ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court will take up on Wednesday (Aug 23) PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s challenge to the Aug 3 Islamabad High Court order of remanding the Toshakhana case to Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Humayun Dilawar who had sentenced the former prime minister to three years in prison.

The case, to be taken up by an SC bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and consisting of Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, seems to become infructuous since the ASJ had on Aug 4 convicted the petitioner, specifically when the appeal instituted through Advocate Khawaja Haris Ahmed requests the apex court to suspend the proceedings before the trial court hearing the Toshakhana case.

The appeal contended that IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, while remanding the case to the trial judge, misconstrued the submission made on behalf of the counsel to remand the case to any trial judge other than ASJ Humayun Dilawar.

“Yet the high court remanded the case back to the trial court without affording the counsel to separately submit arguments on merits regarding the application for the transfer of the case.

Court office returns PTI chief’s petition about ‘political victimisation’

“Moreover, the high court also erred in law while remanding the case regarding challenge to the jurisdiction of ASJ to proceed with the complaint on merits for the decision afresh on the grounds that the decisions earlier rendered by the trial court was ‘cursory and shoddy’ since it did not address the essential arguments of the petitioner’s counsel,” the appeal argued.

It added: “The manner in which the high court passed the judgement was in breach of the fundamental rights of the petitioner since the record showed the high court order was not passed with due application of the mind.

The petition also sought transfer of the case on the basis of alleged bias; primarily, on the grounds that the charge was framed against the petitioner in haste and improper fashion and also the contentions of the petitioner in various applications have not been decided correctly.

‘Political victimisation’

In a separate development, the Supreme Court office on Monday returned Imran Khan’s petition about alleged political victimisation and right to fair trial since no question of public importance was involved with reference to the enforcement of any of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

In his petition, the PTI chief had requested the Supreme Court to order the federal and provincial authorities to desist from alleged ongoing “unprecedented political victimisation” and curtail unwarranted exploitation of state machinery that leads to the violation of his constitutionally safeguarded fundamental rights.

Moved through his counsel Advocate Salman Safdar, the petition contended that given the extraordinary circumstances, the apex court should protect the fundamental rights of the petitioner, who was the former prime minister. “This will help in restoring the trust and confidence of public at large in the criminal justice system,” it argued.

The petition also requested the apex court to set aside the trial court’s ‘order’ of dismissing the pending pre-arrest bail pleas without discussing merits on technicalities and, by accepting the present petition, rectify the grievous miscarriage of justice and uphold enforceability and effectiveness of constitutional safeguards.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2023