ISLAMABAD – Former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday recorded his statement under Article 342 in the Toshakhana case at the Islamabad District and Sessions Court.
Khan signed the statement he recorded in the case and decided to present evidence in his defence. On being asked by the court if he was satisfied with his answers, Imran replied in the affirmative.
Khan submitted his statement based on 35 questions posed by the court. He told judge Humayun Dilawar that the Toshakhana case had been registered on political grounds and “both prosecution witnesses were puppets of the government”.
Khan said he didn’t sell the Toshakhana gifts himself; he sold those gifts through his military secretary Brigadier Waseem Cheema.
The judge asked lawyer Khawaja Haris if he had been staying up late at night. He then recited a verse: “Teri subha keh rahi hai teri raat ka fasana.” The PTI chief told the judge this was the situation with all of them these days.
Barrister Gohar then sought some time to present the witnesses. “The list has not been prepared yet, so we need time to prepare the list,” the lawyer remarked, and asked for two days for the purpose.
The lawyer asked for time till August 3 to present the list of witnesses. The Election Commission’s lawyers opposed the plea for time. Amjad Pervaiz said there were two kinds of witnesses: public and private.
Judge Humayun Dilawar told the lawyer to make sure to provide the list of private witnesses tomorrow and adjourned the hearing of the case till 9:30am tomorrow.
In a related development, the Supreme Court has fixed for hearing tomorrow Imran Khan’s appeal against the high court’s order rejecting a stay order in the Toshakhana case. A three-member bench headed by Justice Yahya Afridi will conduct the hearing tomorrow.
