ISLAMABAD: PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday filed an appeal in the Islamabad High Court seeking transfer of his trial in the Toshak­hana case from the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar, accusing the latter of being biased.

ADSJ Dilawar was hearing a complaint filed by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) seeking criminal proceedings against Mr Khan for concealing Toshakhana gifts.

On May 10, the judge indicted the PTI chief in the said case and also summoned all three prosecution witnesses for May 13 after Mr Khan pleaded not guilty. The judge had also dismissed Mr Khan’s application seeking transfer of his case.

The former premier raised three objections regarding the trial court.

The first objection was that since he had lost confidence in the judge, the case should be heard by any other judicial officer.

The second objection was related to a pending revision petition. Mr Khan was of the view that the trial court could not proceed in this matter until a decision on revision petition.

The third objection was the change of venue of the court from the District Courts to Police Guest House at H-11.

The trial court judge observed that there was no restraining order on the revision petition. He said that showing no confidence in court is part of tactics to delay the trial proceeding.

Regarding the shifting of the court’s venue, the judge observed that the order of the chief commissioner to designate the Police Guest House as a sub-jail was not challenged at the appropriate forum.

Mr Khan challenged the decision of the trial court in the IHC. The petition stated that the trial court judge “harboured bias against the petitioner and was, therefore, predisposed to dismiss the applications filed by the petitioner”.

Accountability court order

In the meanwhile, the accountability court order also became public on Thursday.

The order, which has become infructuous after the Supreme Court decl­ared the arrest of Imran Khan illegal and rema­nded his case to the IHC, set terms and conditions for Mr Khan’s eight-day physical remand.

The court granted permission for Mr Khan’s personal physician to join the medical team responsible for assessing his health condition and conducting check-ups.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2023