ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday restrained the accountability court from pronouncing its verdict in the £190 million corruption reference against PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi.

A division bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb issued the restraining order while hearing Mr Khan and Bushra Bibi’s petitions.

Through their petitions, the two had sought acquittal of the offence while relying upon amendments in the National Accountability Ordinance introduced by then-PDM regime in 2022.

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The high court, however, asked the trial court to continue its proceedings in the case.

On Wednesday, the trial court adjourned the proceedings without any progress as the defence counsel was not available for cross-examination of the last prosecution witness.

Imran claims govt ‘firm’ on constitutional package, sees ‘active involvement of four umpires’ in the matter

Talking to journalists after attending proceedings of the £190m corruption case at Adiala Jail, Mr Khan said the government was adamant in its plan to adopt the constitutional amendments and working to gather the support needed in the National Assembly and the Senate to get the amendments passed.

Referring to adjournment of the NA and Senate sessions without the constitutional amendments being tabled, he said the government could not win the match despite the “active involvement of four umpires”.

The former prime minister alleged that the government was bringing the constitutional amendments to “benefit three umpires” — the chief justice of Pakistan, chief justice of IHC and the Election Commission of Pakistan — to protect the “fraud” elections.

In response to a question if the proposed constitutional amendments had been reversed, Mr Khan said the government wants to table the amendments at any cost and is making efforts to get two-thirds majority in parliament for the purpose.

Mr Khan urged all the political parties, including the JUI-F of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, to stand with democracy. He further said that after all their attempts to crush the PTI had failed, they planned the May 9 incident.

The ex-premier said that the Feb 8 election was an eye-opener for the forces who wanted to eliminate the PTI as the party secured a landslide victory even without a proper contest.

Mr Khan said he survived two assassination attempts and was facing 140 cases prior to the May 9 riots, adding that those who removed the CCTV footage were responsible for the violent protests.

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The incarcerated leader said he was deliberately dragged by law enforcement personnel on May 9, 2023 to incite his followers to violence and lamented that the CCTV footage of his arrest was also stolen from the premises of the IHC.

He expressed the hope that the upcoming chief justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah would fix his petition to ascertain the facts. He claimed that Nawaz Sharif was defeated by PTI’s jailed leader Yasmin Rashid, but he managed to get 74,000 bogus votes.

He questioned as to why the election tribunals are dysfunctional despite a lapse of eight months.

Mr Khan said the Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report had revealed that then-military ruler Gen Yahya Khan compromised the democracy to retain powers, adding that the country was likely to face the same situation.

He alleged that the government was trying to end the rule of law which is directly linked with foreign investment, adding that investors would not come to the country unless there was rule of law.

He said political stability was also interlinked with economic stability.

He alleged that police had started arresting PTI workers to sabotage the upcoming Lahore jalsa and urged people to attend the rally scheduled for later this week.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2024