Imran Khan was granted bail in the Toshakahan case and the top court granted him relief in the cipher case but there are two more hurdles in his way…reports Asian Lite News
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan won’t be coming out of jail despite getting bail in the cipher case by the country’s top court, Geo News reported on Friday.
He was granted bail in the Toshakahan case and the top court granted him relief in the cipher case but there are two more hurdles in his way as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has filed two corruption references against him.
The anti-graft watchdog arrested the PTI founder in a 190 million-pound settlement and Toshakhana cases and the bail petitions are pending before the accountability courts. Until he secures bail in these two cases he will remain behind bars, according to Geo News.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court granted him and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi bail in the case against surety bonds of 1 million Pakistani Rupees (PKR) each today.
Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has been in jail since August after his conviction on corruption charges in separate cases.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges of leaking state secrets. The charges are related to a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington last year, which Khan is accused of making public.
As per details, the former premier is facing multiple cases from corruption to violence filed against him in different courts across the country including the Toshakahana reference in which he has been disqualified, Geo News reported.
Other than Imran Khan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi also got bail by the Pakistan Supreme Court in the cypher case.
Earlier in August, former Prime Minister Imran Khan was sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of 100,000 PKR by Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Humayun Dilawar, after the judge found him guilty of graft in the Toshakhana case.
Khan has been convicted of misusing his position as prime minister to sell state gifts worth more than PKR 140 million (USD 490,000) that he received from foreign dignitaries during visits abroad, reported Geo News.
Last month, the PTI sought Imran’s post-arrest bail in the Supreme Court, arguing that bail should not be used as a form of punishment. The SC had previously issued notices to the FIA and the federation, directing them to submit responses to the plea, Dawn reported.
The cypher case, initiated with the filing of a First Information Report (FIR) on August 15 under the Official Secrets Act, involves serious allegations against former Prime Minister Imran Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Nomination papers submitted
Despite being disqualified from contesting the upcoming general elections in Pakistan, jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan had his nomination papers submitted from his home constituency in Mianwali on Friday, as reported by Geo News.
Khan had his nomination papers submitted for the National Assembly’s NA-89 constituency. PTI leader Umar Bodla appeared on the former prime minister’s behalf.
The PTI founder, a 70-year-old former international cricket star, has been at the centre of a political crisis since he was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022.
The cricketer-turned-politician was sent to jail for three years on August 5 after being found guilty of selling state gifts during his 2018-22 tenure as prime minister — the charges he denies, Geo News reported.
Khan is seeking to overturn that conviction, which has barred him from contesting elections for five years, filed a plea in the Islamabad High Court, but it was rejected, after which the party moved to the Supreme Court. (ANI)
ECP Decides Against Letting PTI Retain Symbol
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday decided against letting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) retain its ‘bat’ electoral symbol for the February 8 general election, Dawn newspaper reported.
Dawn is a Pakistani English-language newspaper.
The ECP’s verdict was announced a day after the Peshawar High Court (PHC) directed the electoral watchdog to decide on PTI’s intra-party polls and electoral symbol by Friday in “accordance with the law”.
The development also came hours after the PTI met with the commission following the Supreme Court’s order for the ECP to address the party’s concerns regarding a lack of a level playing field in the run-up to the polls. According to the PTI, the ECP had assured its delegation that it would address its grievances, as per Dawn.
The ECP had taken notice of the PTI’s intra-party, in which Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was easily elected as the party’s new chairman. The polls were held on December 3, days after the ECP declared as null and void the intra-party polls held in June 2022, giving the PTI 20 days to hold fresh elections or be ready to become ineligible for the poll symbol.
As per Dawn, the party was on the receiving end of sharp criticism over the polls as estranged PTI founding member Akbar S Babar announced that he would challenge the entire process. He had alleged that the PTI had carried out a selection process aimed at throwing out party workers to give the reins to a few lawyers.
Akbar had approached the ECP against the intra-party elections, alleging it was “rigged and fraudulent”. Various other petitions were also submitted to the ECP along similar lines as Babar’s, with the mutual demands of declaring the intra-party election without effect and orders for the exercise to be carried out anew.
A five-member ECP bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja on Tuesday reserved judgement on the matter linked to the allocation of the ‘bat’ as the PTI’s electoral symbol.
In its order, which was posted on social media platform X, the ECP said that according to the PTI constitution, the Federal Election Commission would be formed to hold intra-party elections.
It said the record submitted by the PTI did not show that any competent authority had appointed the Federal Election Commission in line with established procedure.
It added that the appointment of a single federal election commissioner was not a requirement of the PTI constitution and such an individual could not exercise any power to hold the intra-party elections in the absence of a complete commission, according to Dawn.
The ECP said the PTI had not complied with its directions and had failed to hold intra-party elections in accordance with the party’s prevailing constitution and the election laws.
“Therefore, the certificate dated December 4 and Form-65 filed by the alleged chairman, is hereby regretted and rejected accordingly,” the ECP said.
“The provisions of Section 215 of the Election Act, 2017 are hereby invoked and the PTI is hereby declared ineligible to obtain the election symbol for which they have applied for,” the ECP added, according to Dawn. (ANI)
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