• Apex court says plea suffers from ‘deficiencies’
• Khosa’s clerk ‘mugged on SC premises’
• Appeal claims ECP blocked ex-PM’s right to contest polls

ISLAMABAD: The Sup­reme Court office on Saturday returned an appeal seeking to set aside the three-year conviction awarded to former prime minister Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case.

The registrar’s office returned the appeal moved by Mr Khan through his counsel Sardar Latif Khosa under Article 185 of the Constitution, challenging the Dec 11, 2023, Islamabad High Court (IHC) decision of rejecting a similar plea for lacking necessary requirements, including absence of actual controversies or chronology of the past litigation.

The petition was filed with a plea to overturn the Aug 5 conviction awarded by additional sessions judge, Islamabad, for illegally selling state gifts.

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The registrar’s office, however, returned the appeal with observations that the same was suffering from a number of deficiencies, like the concise statement. In addition to the existing requirements, the petition should contain actual controversy or chronology of the litigation as well as the findings recorded by the forums below. Moreover, the petition should contain questions requiring consideration and decision by the Supreme Court, relevant facts, events and documents in the case showing a breach of legal rights/entitlement to relief.

Likewise, the concise statement in the petition should be signed by an advocate of the Supreme Court. Besides the petitioner has not informed the respondents by issuing notices to them about the filing of the petition.

Consequently, the court office returned the petition to the petitioner lawyers in original for removal of the deficiencies within a fortnight by Jan 6, 2024.

The petition argued that the petitioner had moved an application for the suspension of the three-year sentence with the main appeal which came up for hearing before the IHC on Aug 28. During the arguments, a request was made to the high court to suspend the operation of the sentence.

The sentence was challenged by the petitioner, the petition claimed, since it suffered from jurisdictional defects.

“The language of Section 426 CrPC is very clear that the court seized with the matter has the power to suspend the sentence, which prayer was accordingly made by the counsel representing the petitioner before the IHC,” the petition contended.

On Aug 8, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had issued a notification to disqualify the appellant under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution, without even giving the petition an opportunity of being heard. Under the recent amendments to the Elections Act 2017, the period of disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution has been reduced to five years from the earlier life term.

Thus the commission blocked the fundamental rights of Imran Khan as enshrined under Articles 2, 2A, 4,9, 10A 15, 16, 17 and 25 of the Constitution to contest the elections, presently heading the largest political in the country.

The petition pleaded that the ECP notification was never communicated to the petitioner who at that time was behind bars. The petition argued that attempts were being made to take away the symbol of the PTI as well and throw it out of the election arena.

Khosa’s clerk ‘mugged’

Shahbaz Khosa, the son of Sardar Latif Khosa, also wrote an application to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa about an incident, that occurred inside the Supreme Court premises in which his clerk was mugged while performing his official duties within the premises of the apex court.

The incident took place at the steno room and reception located on the first floor right in front of the Supreme Court Bar office, the application said, adding that his clerk Muhammad Usman was present at the Supreme Court building to file the petition when he was abruptly intercepted by four unidentified individuals dressed in civilian attire.

These unknown persons unlawfully confiscated his clerk’s mobile phone, personal belongings and most distressingly, the files and documents related to the petition of Imran Khan he filed on Saturday, the application said.

These individuals employed threatening language and actions, instilling a sense of fear and intimidation in the clerk, the application claimed. Their “unwarranted actions and menacing behaviour” were a blatant violation of legal and fundamental rights, as well as an egregious disregard for the sanctity of this esteemed institution.

It is disheartening to acknowledge that such an incident occurred within the precincts of this revered institution, highlighting a serious lapse in security and protection for legal practitioners and the general public, the application said.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2023