Daily Times

A district and sessions court in the federal capital on Wednesday granted one-day exemption from appearance to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case.

Additional Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar approved the petition while hearing the case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the former prime minister over allegations of concealing gifts he received from the Toshakhana.

At the outset of the hearing, Imran Khan’s lawyer Faisal Chaudhry requested the judge to adjourn the hearing of the case without any proceedings till tomorrow (Friday) as lead counsel Khawaja Harris was not available. He also filed a plea seeking exemption for Imran Khan in Wednesday’s hearing, stating that there were security threats to his client’s life.

The judge remarked that the PTI chief could attend the hearing through video-link if he was unable to come to Islamabad.

A lawyer of the ECP said the electoral body had announced its verdict in October last and since then there was no development in the case. After hearing arguments, Judge Dilawar approved the exemption plea and summoned arguments on the admissibility of the ECP case tomorrow.

Last year, a reference was filed against Imran Khan by lawmakers from the ruling coalition accusing him of not sharing the details of gifts he retained from Toshakhana in his assets declarations and the Election Commission had concluded in October last year that the PTI chief filed false statements regarding the gifts.

The electoral watchdog subsequently disqualified him and approached the district and sessions court seeking criminal proceedings against Imran Khan for allegedly misleading officials about the gifts.

LHC stops ACE from arresting Buzdar: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday stopped Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab from arresting former chief minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar in undisclosed cases till today (Thursday).

Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh passed the orders while hearing a petition filed by Usman Buzdar against non-provision of details of cases registered by the ACE. The court also issued notices to the ACE authorities and sought a reply to the petition till today.

Usman Buzdar had approached the court with a request to direct ACE authorities to provide details of all cases registered against him. He also expressed apprehension of his arrest in undisclosed cases.

Meanwhile, an accountability court extended the interim bail of Usman Buzdar till May 6 in an assets beyond means inquiry initiated by National Accountability Bureau against him. The court also sought investigation report from the bureau on the next date of hearing. Accountability Court Judge Sajjad Ahmad Sheikh heard the bail petition of Usman Buzdar.

The former chief minister did not appear before the court during Wednesday’s proceedings. However, his counsel filed an exemption application and requested to exempt his client from personal appearance for one-day, which was accordingly accepted by the court. Meanwhile, the LHC’ Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh on Wednesday came down hard on Additional Director General of ACE Waqas Hassan, warning him that he “will not be spared if contempt is established on [his] part” in former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi’s arrest case.

Justice Sheikh was hearing a plea filed by Elahi seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against ACE officials and the police high-ups for conducting a raid at his Lahore residence despite being granted protective bail in that case.

Murad Saeed seeks details of cases against him: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Murad Saeed has filed a petition with the Lahore High Court to obtain the details of the cases against him and to secure a security bond.

The former federal minister has named the federal government among other parties in the application. According to the petition, Murad Saeed has been facing politically motivated cases and the relevant institutions have not provided the details of those cases. He wants to appear in the concerned courts and seek bail in the listed cases. Therefore, he requested the court to stop the proceedings of those cases and provide the details of the listed cases.