• IHC reserves order on plea to suspend Toshakhana conviction
• LHC full bench to take up issue of jail trial

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan has challenged the process of his indictment in the cipher case in Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The petition, filed by Mr Khan through his counsel on Monday, came a day before the trial court, hearing the cipher case, is set to frame charges against him and PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

The plea contended that an IHC division bench scrapped the trial proceeding due to legal loopholes, and the Special Court (Official Secrets Act) re-commenced the proceeding on Nov 23.

He was referring to IHC’s verdict on Nov 21, where the court had declared the jail trial illegal, paving the way for the entire process to start afresh.

After the verdict, the Special Court (Official Secrets Act) judge ordered the police to present the two PTI leaders at the Federal Judicial Complex on Nov 28.

On the said date, the jail authorities, instead of presenting the accused, submitted a report seeking trial inside the jail premises due to security reasons, the fresh plea contended.

In the following hearing, the trial court set the date of Dec 4 to distribute copies of challan and other documents among the defence counsel, Mr Khan’s plea added.

The proceedings on Dec 4 “were taken up by the learned court at Adiala Jail premises and, without having the mandate to proceed with the trial, supplied the copies (of challan) to the petitioner/accused according to the wishes and whims of the prosecution while putting the intention of the legislature and procedure of law, aside”.

The petition claimed that the proceedings of Dec 4 were “liable to set aside” as they were “carried out unauthorisedly and are illegal, unlawful, improper, incorrect.”

The IHC has been requested to halt the proceedings till deciding on this petition.

In a separate case, a division bench of the IHC reserved a decision on a petition to suspend the conviction of the former PM in the Toshakhana gifts case.

The court has already earlier suspended Mr Khan’s sentence in this case.

His counsel, Latif Khosa, had filed the petition to overturn the conviction, thus enabling Mr Khan to hold public offices and contest the upcoming elections.

At the outset, Mr Khosa informed the bench — comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri — that Adiala Jail authorities had stopped him from meeting his client.

He claimed that jail authorities routinely create hurdles whenever he visits his client for consultation.

LHC sends pleas to full bench

Separately, on Monday, LHC’s Justice Aalia Neelum referred Mr Khan’s plea against his jail trial in the ECP contempt case to a full bench.

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Neelum asked Mr Khan’s counsel about the number of cases — other than the ECP contempt case — against his client which have been notified for jail trial.

The counsel stated that notifications had been issued for jail trials in Al-Qadir Trust and cipher cases. The judge observed that the court would have to examine if other cases could be affected by its order on the petition in hand.

She asked the counsel to furnish the record of the jail trial in other cases.

At this point, Mr Khan’s counsel requested the court not to adjourn the matter beyond Tuesday (today) as the petitioner was set to be indicted in the ECP contempt case on Wednesday, Dec 13. Later, the judge referred the petition to a full bench, already hearing two separate pleas filed by Mr Khan.

The petition, referred to the full bench, contended that the ECP had passed the order to conduct Mr Khan’s trial in the Adiala Jail over unspecified security concerns.

Imran-Bushra nikah case ‘maintainable’

A local court on Monday ruled that the case related to nikah of former prime minister Imran Khan with Bushra Bibi during iddat was maintainable and summoned the former on December 14.

Senior civil judge Qudratullah had last week reserved the decision on maintainability of the complaint of Khawar Fareed Maneka seeking legal action against his former wife and her husband Imran Khan for marrying during iddat.

Mr Maneka’s lawyer Raja Rizwan Abbasi pointed out that two witnesses had already testified in the case, and a housemaid of the Maneka family can also appear in the witness box, if the court deemed it appropriate.

The court then issued a notice to Ms Bibi for Dec 14. Since Mr Khan is confined in Adiala Jail, the court decided to mark his attendance through a video link.

Wajih Ahmad Sheikh in Lahore also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2023