ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Wednesday rejected PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s witnesses in the Toshakhana case, saying that the ex-premier had failed to prove their “relevance” in the criminal proceedings against him.
Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Humayun Dilawar took up a complaint against Imran, filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), for concealing details of Toshakana gifts.
At the previous hearing, the PTI chief had submitted his response to 35 questions raised by the court.
During the hearing today, ADSJ Dilawar said the PTI lawyer had submitted a list of defence witnesses but failed to present them in court.
The judge noted that a list of four witnesses was given and the court was asked to set a date for the recording of their statements. However, the suspect didn’t record the statements of private witnesses nor did he submit the list of government witnesses, he added.
ADSJ Dilawar pointed out that all the witnesses chosen by Imran were tax consultants, while the case against the PTI chief was pertaining to hiding assets and submitting a fake affidavit. “The court is not looking at entries regarding wealth statements and income tax,” he added.
Hence, the court ruled that the suspect had failed to prove the relevance of the witnesses and could, therefore, not be granted permission to present them in court.
It subsequently summoned both respondents tomorrow for final arguments at 11am, adding that a verdict would be reserved if they refused to appear in court.
At the outset of the hearing on Wednesday, Imran’s counsel Gohar Khan requested that the court grant his client exemption from attending day’s hearing.
“Where are your witnesses?” ADSJ Dilawar inquired. In his response, the PTI lawyer sought time till tomorrow (Thursday) to present the witnesses.
However, ECP counsel Amjad Pervaiz objected to the request, saying that the court had categorically instructed the PTI to present their witnesses in court on Wednesday.
“No application has been submitted yet to call any government witnesses … tell us how these private witnesses are relevant to the case? This case is related to the assets filed by the suspect,” he argued, pointing out that the first three names in the list of witnesses provided by Imran were tax consultants.
Amjad then proceeded to read Imran’s reply submitted in the case a day earlier out loud in the courtroom. “The suspect has himself said in the statement that he does not rely on the tax returns,” he said.
The ECP lawyer further alleged that the time sought to present witnesses was mere “delaying tactics”.
Here, the judge directed the lawyers to apprise the court of the witnesses.
In his response, PTI’s Gohar Khan decried that his client was told to present witnesses in less than 24 hours and once again asked the court to give them more time.
“If the witnesses are not linked to the case, the court may stop them from recording their statement,” he said, assuring that all the witnesses would come to the court and testify whether the documents submitted by Imran were correct or not.
“We expect justice from you … we should be given a level-playing field,” Barrister Gohar added.
