Tosha Khana case: Imran challenges order to terminate right of defense in IHC

Islamabad: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan Thursday challenged the order to terminate the right of defense in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in Tosha Khana criminal case.

According to details, it has been appealed in the petition to annul the yesterday’s order of the trial court and the right of defense be restored.

Chairman PTI also requested to hear the petition today. Earlier on Wednesday (yesterday), the court approved the request of Election Commission to declare all his witnesses as irrelevant while terminating the PTI chairman's right to defense.

Yesterday, Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar heard the Tosha Khana criminal proceedings case. Chairman PTI presented a list of four witnesses in the court which included Tax Consultant Mohammad Usman Ali, Senior Manager Qadir Ahmad, Senior Manager of ITP Naveed Farid and Rauf Hassan of PTI.

Advocate Election Commission Amjad Parviz objected that these are irrelevant witnesses. Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar while delivering the verdict rejected the request of PTI chief to summon witnesses and declared all his four witnesses as irrelevant.

Court said that the accused could not prove the relevance of the witnesses to the case. The list submitted today includes a tax consultant and an accountant, whereas according to the Election Commission, these are irrelevant witnesses.

Judge Humayun called the parties for the final arguments in the case yesterday saying that if the parties do not give the final arguments, the decision will be reserved.

The hearing of the case was adjourned till 11 o'clock today.