Amid back-to-back hearings of his corruption cases, the incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan on Thursday asked an accountability court judge to also continue proceedings of corruption references against his rivals, Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari.
The discussion between the former prime minister and the judge, Muhammad Bashir, was held during the hearing of the £190 million National Crime Agency (NCA) scandal case.
“Nawaz Sharif [Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N)] — and Asif Ali Zardari [Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman] have been given February 13 date for hearings of the Toshakhana cases. Every day, I hear about the filing of back-to-back cases against me,” Khan said at the outset of today’s hearing.
The disqualified premier, who rose to power in 2018 and was ousted from the PM’s office after losing a confidence vote from parliament in 2022, asked the judge to conduct daily hearings of his rivals’ cases.
Pointing fingers at daily hearings of his cases, Khan complained that the hearing of an eight years old case was fixed on February 13, whereas, the case lodged against him four years ago was being heard daily.
During the hearing, the prosecutor prayed the court to continue proceedings tomorrow to let him record testimonies of witnesses and their cross-examination. However, the defence lawyer argued against resuming the hearing tomorrow and pleaded with the court to adjourn the hearing till January 30.
The PTI founder also prayed the court to permit him to meet his lawyers. The imprisoned politico apprised the court that he didn’t know anything about his wife Bushra Bibi’s entry and exit from the jail. He added that strict security measures were in place inside the jail and he was not even allowed to carry a piece of paper with him.
To this, the prosecutor argued that the security level was quite high outside the jail.
Later, the accountability court adjourned the hearing till January 30 and fixed the February 6 date for the indictment of the suspects in the NCA scandal case. Moreover, copies of the charge sheet were also provided to the lawyers.
The politician and the top leadership of his party are facing a plethora of cases ahead of the February 8 nationwide polls. Besides, the Imran-led party has also faced a blow after losing its legal battle to get back its iconic “bat” electoral symbol and the legality of its intra-party elections.
