• PTI founder, his wife seek suspension of their sentences
• Justice Dogar-led bench dismisses Barrister Safdar’s request to fix hearing next week

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) is set to hear PTI founder Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi’s petitions seeking the suspension of their sentences in the £190 million corruption case on March 11.

A division bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan resumed the case proceedings on Thursday.

During the hearing, the bench expressed displeasure as dozens of lawyers affiliated with PTI stood up and approached the rostrum simultaneously.

Mr Khan’s counsel, Barrister Salman Sardar, argued that the matter had assumed greater urgency in view of the former premier’s sudden eye ailment.

He further submitted that Bushra Bibi, despite being a woman, was serving a seven-year sentence and that her petition for suspension of sentence had been fixed after six months. Justice Dogar observed that most of the miscellaneous civil applications seeking early hearing had turned infructuous, but ordered that the office objections on the suspension petitions be overruled.

Barrister Sardar then requested the court to fix the petitions for hearing next week.

However, the chief justice directed the registrar’s office to fix both the petitions seeking suspension and the main criminal appeals on March 11 and adjourned the proceedings.

In a related development, IHC’s Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro removed the office registrar’s objections on the petitions seeking suspension of the PTI founder and his wife’s sentences in the Toshakhana 2.0 case.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2026