Imran Khan will get relief in Toshakhana case! The court can pronounce the verdict on the petition against the sentence today.

Islamabad, PTI. Pakistan's High Court is expected to pronounce its verdict today on former Prime Minister Imran Khan's appeal challenging his conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case. A panel of judges comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri adjourned the hearing for a day on Thursday.

Imran Khan is currently in Attock Jail, where he was kept after his conviction. He has also been disqualified from holding any public office for five years. Earlier, Khan's counsel Latif Khosa presented his arguments against the sentence and said the decision was taken in haste and had several lacunae.

He urged the court to quash the sentence, but the defense team sought more time to complete their arguments. On August 5, Judge Humayun Dilawar of the Islamabad-based sessions court sentenced Khan to three years in prison for concealing income from the sale of government gifts.

The case was initiated in October last year on a complaint by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which had earlier disqualified Khan in the same case. Within days, Khan challenged the conviction in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), seeking to suspend his sentence and overturn the verdict.

The court is expected to deliver its verdict after the arguments are over. Many believe that a favorable verdict may come for the cricketer-turned-politician after the Supreme Court exposed the loopholes in the verdict convicting Khan. The Supreme Court also held a brief hearing on Thursday and adjourned the matter with the observation that it would await the outcome of the hearing at the IHC.

A three-member apex court panel headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhil heard the petitions in the Toshakhana case. The IHC held a preliminary hearing on 22 August, but the matter was adjourned till Thursday after ECP lawyer Amjad Parvez said he had not been provided with the record of the case and needed time to prepare.

Earlier, the Supreme Court on Wednesday, while hearing various petitions against the Toshakhana case, observed that there were lacunae in the sessions court's judgment. The panel found that the verdict was delivered in haste and without giving the accused the right of defense. "Prima facie, there are defects in the judgment of the trial court," the chief justice said.

The top court had also said that it would wait for the IHC hearing before giving its verdict. It resumed the hearing today but adjourned it without setting a date after it was informed that the IHC was holding the hearing. The Toshakhana case was filed in 2022 by lawmakers from the ruling party in the ECP, alleging that Khan had concealed income from the sale of state gifts.
As per the Toshakhana Rules, the persons to whom these rules apply are required to inform the Cabinet Division about the gifts and other such material received. According to reports, Khan received 58 gifts worth over Rs 140 million from world leaders during his three-and-a-half-year tenure and kept all of them either by paying negligible amounts or even without paying them at all.

The ECP first disqualified him and then filed a criminal proceedings case in a sessions court, which convicted him, and subsequently, Khan was sent to jail.