Daily Times

ecpThe Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) indicted former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-information minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday in a contempt case.

The four-member bench led by ECP member Nisar Durrani charged the two politicians today while hearing the case at Rawalpindi Central Jail where both, the PTI founder and former member were incarcerated in different cases. The court adjourned the hearing till January 16. The PTI’s counsel requested the ECP to not carry on with the indictment today since the head of the party’s legal team, Shoaib Shaheen, was busy at the Supreme Court (SC). He also pleaded against the jail trial.

However, the electoral body dismissed both the requests of the PTI’s lawyer.

It should not be noted that the electoral watchdog had deferred the indictment of the former premier and the former federal minister in a hearing held on December 19, 2023. Later, speaking to the media outside Adiala jail, advocate Ali Bukhari announced that the PTI will be challenging the indictment in the high court.

PTI’s lawyer Amir Niazi told the media that there was nothing in the charge-sheet that could prove contempt. He further mentioned that Imran has asked the legal team to separate from the commission the ECP member against whom the party earlier moved the SC.

“Imran Khan was furious over the charges,” party leader Asghar Chaudhry informed the press outside the jail. “He [Imran] told the ECP members that they were biased, and that someday they will be tried under Article 6 for grave treason,” Chaudhry further added, claiming that the ECP member were shocked at this.

In a separate media talk, Fawad Chaudhry’s wife, Hiba Fawad Chaudhry, said that during the hearing the former PTI leader said that there was an existing reference against one of the members of the electoral body and that he could not be a part of the hearing. “But he was still a member of the bench,” she said. She added that Fawad was not even allowed to respond to the four show-cause notices issued against him, and was still indicted. The electoral body had initiated contempt proceedings against Imran, Fawad and former PTI leader Asad Umar in 2022 for the language used against the chief election commissioner and the ECP, and had non-bailable arrest warrants issued against them through the Islamabad High Court (IHC).