Imran Khan's Disqualification Upheld by Islamabad High Court: Unraveling the Toshakhana Case

  Imran Khan's Disqualification Upheld by Islamabad High Court: Unraveling the Toshakhana Case

• The Islamabad High Court (IHC) made a critical decision regarding former Prime Minister Imran Khan's disqualification in the Toshakhana case. 24HD TV channel reported that the IHC, headed by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision to disqualify Imran Khan. This ruling dismissed Khan's plea to suspend his sentence in the case. Chief Justice Aamer Farooq announced a concise verdict, with a more detailed explanation to follow in a subsequent release.
• Imran Khan's plea to retract his application challenging the disqualification in the Toshakhana case was also rejected by the court.
• The ECP's consensus verdict on October 21, 2022, led to the disqualification of the former Prime Minister under Article 63(1)(p). It concluded that Imran Khan, as the PTI founder, was no longer a member of the National Assembly due to "false statements and incorrect declaration."
• The ECP found Imran guilty of submitting a false affidavit and engaging in corrupt practices, as stated under Article 63(1)(p). This decision was unanimous among the five-member bench of the electoral authority.
• Imran Khan contested his disqualification in the IHC, arguing that the ECP had no jurisdiction over the matter. Simultaneously, a separate petition was filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC), challenging the section of the ECP under which Imran was disqualified.
• Initially, Imran Khan did not inform the IHC about the second plea filed in the LHC concerning the same matter. However, later on, he requested the IHC to allow the withdrawal of his plea as he intended for the LHC to proceed with the case.
• After considering arguments from all parties, the IHC reserved its verdict on September 13, 2023. The court was scheduled to announce its reserved judgment on the following day.
• The genesis of the disqualification reference traces back to August 2022 when the then National Assembly speaker, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, referred the case to the ECP under Articles 62A, 63A, and 223, seeking Imran Khan's disqualification in light of the Toshakhana scam.
• The reference, submitted by Ali Gohar Khan, PML-N’s Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha, and five others, consisted of a 28-page document identifying 52 gift items from Toshakhana received by ex-PM Imran Khan. These gifts were deemed a violation of laws and regulations, obtained at nominal prices, and most were eventually sold in the market, including some valuable watches.
• The total assessed value of these gifts was reported to be Rs142,042,100, received between August 2018 and December 2021.
• According to Mohsin Ranjha, Imran Khan had concealed information about receiving watches from Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in his asset statement of 2018-2019. This omission was considered tantamount to deception, a crime under Section 137.
• Ranjha argued that Imran Khan no longer held the status of being Sadiq and Ameen, and hence should face a lifelong disqualification from contesting elections under Article 62(1)(f), Article 2, and Article 3 of the Constitution.