Pakistan: Supreme Court rejects former PM Imran’s plea seeking stay on Toshakhana case trial

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawyer Khawaja Haris informed the court that the trial court has ordered the witnesses to be produced and that should they fail to do so, the right of defence will be lost.

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Supreme Court rejected for a second time on Wednesday former prime minister Imran Khan‘s plea seeking a halt on the trial court’s criminal proceedings against him in the Toshakhana corruption case.

Despite approaching the Islamabad High Court (IHC) twice, the 70-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Khan failef to get relief in the case pertaining to the concealment of details of state gifts.

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A three-member apex court bench headed by Justice Yahya Afridi conducted the hearing on Wednesday.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawyer Khawaja Haris informed the court that the trial court has ordered the witnesses to be produced and that should they fail to do so, the right of defence will be lost, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

“The Islamabad High Court (IHC) took notice of four petitions but did not grant an injunction order,” Haris told the court.

Justice Afridi urged the PTI chief’s counsel to “think more” about the case, the report said.

“It would be better to wait for the high court’s directives instead of having the Supreme Court issue orders,” he said.

“Your application had become ineffective, but we still entertained it and issued orders. We do understand the situation. We had expected that the high court would issue better orders for you,” Justice Afridi said.