Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday barred Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan from prosecuting him in the Toshakhana case, ARY News reported. According to ARY News, Imran Khan was charged in the Toshakhana case on Wednesday, a day after he was arrested from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises in the Al-Qadir Trust case. Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Amir Farooq presided over the hearing. Khan’s lawyer Khawaja Haris argued before the court that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did not proceed with the complaint against his client as per the law.
He said that after the expiry of the time limit, the complaint cannot be taken forward. IHC CJ asked Khwaja Haris, “What did the Sessions Judge hearing the case say on the objections raised by you?” The judge said that we will look into the matter while recording the statement in the matter and added that the matter is not admissible for hearing.
According to ARY News, after hearing the arguments of Imran Khan’s lawyer, the IHC CJ issued a stay order on indictment and ordered the sessions court to stay the criminal proceedings against Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case.
Notice was also issued to the accused in the case. On Tuesday, Imran was arrested by the Pakistan Rangers from outside the Islamabad High Court on a warrant issued by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
NAB launched probe against Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi and others for allegedly acquiring hundreds of kanals of land in the name of Al Qadir University Trust, which allegedly caused a loss of 190 million pounds to the national exchequer .
The apex court declared that the arrest of the former prime minister was “illegal” and directed the authorities to release him “immediately”. Soon after, supporters and party workers welcomed the court’s decision. According to Geo News report, PTI supporters were happy over the release of their leader Imran Khan and celebrated the decision of the apex court.