ISLAMABAD: The trial court seized with the Tosha­khana case against PTI chairman Imran Khan on Monday rejected the plea of the ECP to record testimonies of five more prosecution witnesses.

The judge Huma­yun Dilawar, however, su­­mmoned the two prosecution witnesses to appear before the court on Tuesday.

Advocate Khawaja Haris Ahmed, lead counsel for PTI chairman Imran Khan, informed the judge that a petition challenging the trial court’s verdict on the maintainability of the Toshakhana case was pen­ding before the IHC.

ECP counsel Saad Hassan argued that the five new witnesses are material witnesses, including four officers of the Cabinet Division and a manager of a private bank. They are: deputy secretary admin of the Cabinet Division Arshad Mehmood, deputy secretary of coordination Faisal Tehsin, section officer Ali Asad and section officer of Toshakhana Mohsin Ali and bank manager Amber Hussain.

He cited various cases in which the court permitted additional witnesses to testify.

The PTI counsel objected to the ECP counsel’s plea and said that the cases cited by Mr Hassan were not relevant to the case of Mr Khan.

Advocate Haris also submitted an application seeking exemption of Mr Khan from personal appearance.

The court exempted Mr Khan for a day and adjourned further hearing of the case till Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2023