The 70-year-old former PM has missed three indictment hearings before an Islamabad sessions court in the case while he recovers from a gunshot wound sustained in a failed assassination attempt in Wazirabad last year.
He is suspected of hiding information about the items he kept from the Toshakhana, which is a repository for gifts given to government officials by foreign authorities.
On February 28, Imran was scheduled to be indicted in the Toshakhana Reference, but his attorney had asked the judge to excuse him from the proceeding since he had to show up in numerous other courts. His charges were twice postponed.
Imran was subsequently given arrest warrants, and the hearing was postponed until March 7.
Imran then petitioned the court to throw out the arrest warrants, claiming that doing so would provide him “a fair opportunity to attend and defend himself” in the proceeding.
But on March 6, ADSJ Iqbal denied his appeal and upheld the warrant, concluding that the PTI chairman had “wilfully delayed” appearing in court.
Sher Afzal Marwat, the former premier’s attorney, testified before the court that Imran was ill and “handicapped” as a result of having his leg shot at during the Wazirabad incident. He continued by saying that Imran had become the subject of a worldwide “spectacle”.
Marwat asserted that Imran’s legal team was now present at the Islamabad High Court and that he will deliver the power of attorney in “a day or two” and the attorney further asked the judge to set the case’s hearing for the next week.
Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), stated that Imran had to appear before the IHC on March 9 in response to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) counsel’s plea for the hearing to be continued on that date.
Ranjha reaffirmed that ”Imran Khan would definitely show up at Islamabad High Court on March 9.”
According to the counsel for the former premier, he was informed that the PTI leader would find it simpler to appear before the district court the following week.
“In other words, Imran Khan would not come before the session court even on March 9,” judge Zafar Iqbal stated. On the podium, Ranjha said that the law should be followed and questioned whether the average person was also exempt from appearing in court.
