IHC rejects Imran Khan’s Petition to suspend ECP’s decision

Web Desk (LTN NEWS): Monday, Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah said that the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision in the Toshakhana reference against PTI Chairman Imran Khan did not stop him from running in future elections.

He also said that the former prime minister would not face any problems if he wanted to run in the NA-45 (Kurram-I) by-election on Oct 30.

His comment was made during a hearing on Imran’s petition against the ECP’s decision to disqualify him because, according to the ECP, he did not correctly account for the money made from selling Toshakhana gifts while he was prime minister.

Barrister Ali Zafar, Imran’s lawyer, asked the court to start hearing the petition immediately, even though the registrar had made some administrative objections.

Justice Minallah asked Zafar why he was in such a hurry. Zafar told him his client had been kicked out of the race before the Kurram by-election.

“Imran Khan is not disqualified for that election,” said the head judge of the IHC.

“Everyone should follow the same rules. In this case, there’s no need to hurry.”

The judge said the court would hear the petition once the objections were taken care of.

When Zafar asked the court to stop the verdict from going into effect, Justice Minallah said that the ECP’s detailed verdict was not yet ready.

Read they want to throw me in jail to stop protests: Imran

He asked, “Which verdict should the court uphold?”

“Imran doesn’t want to go back to the seat from which he was kicked out, does he?”

Zafar said that the stay was needed because the PTI chairman was running for a by-election that was coming up. However, Justice Minallah said that Imran would have no trouble with this.

When the lawyer said the public would not understand, Justice Minallah said it was not the court’s job to explain things to the public.

“Nothing like this has ever happened before. This is not how the court should act,” the judge said.

Then Zafar said that the ECP’s decision was also a first. However, the head judge of the IHC said it was customary to give a more detailed ruling later.

Justice Minallah said a copy of the court’s decision should be made public within three days. If that did not happen, the court would look into the situation.

The court gave instructions on how to carry out [its verdict] the same day in a case about prisoners. Zafar argued that the court should also tell the ECP to make a decision today in our case.

At this point, the judge pointed out that the prisoners in the case Zafar was talking about were being tortured, which was why he needed urgent instructions.

The lawyer for the PTI said that this case was about democracy and that the ECP could change the verdict.

Justice Minallah, on the other hand, did not back down. He said the court would have heard the petition if there was any reason to do so quickly.

Zafar said that the ECP had “changed its verdict” in the case against the PTI that had to do with illegal funding. This case turned out to be a bad thing for Imran Khan. He does not want to use it to run for office.

Read Protests hype all over Pakistan on ECP’s decision against Imran Khan

“Many people have been thrown out of court before this. Did it change how they voted? This court does not tell any other constitutional body what to do. We are giving you a week. “We will see if we do not get a copy of the verdict,” Justice Minallah said.

“Wait for a written decision. This is an everyday thing. He said, “The Election Commission is not holding it up.”

Zafar told the court that the ECP had also asked for legal action against Imran. The judge told Zafar that the sessions court would hear the matter.

The court then told the PTI lawyer that the objections to the petition had to be taken down within three days.

Disqualification of Imran and his plea

The Tosha­khana is a department that the Cabinet Division runs. It stores valuable gifts that heads of other governments, states, and foreign dignitaries have given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials.

According to Toshakhana rules, people subject to these rules must tell the Cabinet Division about gifts, presents, and other similar items they receive.

Lawmakers from the ruling coalition filed a reference in August saying that Imran had not shared details about the gifts he kept from the Toshaskhana and the money he was said to have made from selling them. On Friday, the ECP ruled that the former premier had indeed made false statements and incorrect declarations about the gifts, which led to widespread protests by the PTI.

In its order, the watchdog said that Imran was not allowed to run for office because of Article 63(1)(p) of the Constitution.

Then, Zafar filed a writ petition on Imran’s behalf with the IHC, asking the court to rule that the order on Article 63 was against the settled principles of law.

The plea also asked the court to say that the ECP’s order was ill-thought-out and throw it out.

Imran also asked the court to say that the ECP did not have the power under the 2017 Election Act and Election Rules to decide any questions of corrupt practices and disqualification.

By-election in Kurram

NA-45 was one of the four National Assembly seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where a by-election was supposed to be held on Oct 16, but the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) changed the date. Later, it sent a notice that elections would be held in the constituency on Oct 30.

Imran will run for the NA-45 Kurram seat along with Jamil Khan of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, Sher Mohammad Khan of Jamaat-i-Islami, and several independent candidates.