Islamabad district court summons Imran Khan for Toshakhana reference

Election Commission filed petition in district court against Imran Khan in Toshakhana reference
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified Imran Khan in October, filed reference last month
Islamabad district court summoned Imran Khan in person on January 9,2023

An Islamabad district and sessions court on Thursday admitted the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) plea against former prime minister Imran Khan in the Toshakana case.Additional Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal issued a notice to Imran, summoning him to be present in the court on January 9.

The reference was filed by the ECP, asked the court to proceed against the PTI chief under criminal law for allegedly misleading officials about the gifts he received from foreign dignitaries during his tenure as the premier.

The coalition government claimed Imran sold gifts including diamond jewelry, bracelets and watches, worth Rs140 million from Toshakhana during his premiership.

Imran said the trail of sale of gifts from Toshakhana is available in government records.He also said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Asif Ali Zardari “took out four cars from Toshakhana during their tenures and cases against them are still pending.”

The ECP had previously disqualified Imran Khan under Article 61(1)(p) of the Constitution which states that an individual is “for the time being, disqualified from being elected or chosen as a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (parliament) or of a provincial assembly under any law for the time being in force”.

In the written judgment, the ECP said: “As per the statement of Imran Khan he had purchased the gifts from Toshakhana paying 21.564 million rupees while the Cabinet Division said that the gifts had a value of 107.943 million.”

“The amount in his bank account was around half of the value of the state gifts. Imran Khan was bound to declare the cash and bank details in his returns but he didn’t declare it,” ECP decision read.