Imran Khan moves Supreme Court to have IHC ruling in Toshakhana case overturned

Imran Khan, the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), on Saturday filed a plea in the Supreme Court, challenging the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruling in the Toshakhana case.

The move coincides with the party's desperate attempts to lift the ban on the former prime minister and make him eligible to run in the forthcoming general elections. Khan, however, is still "disqualified" to hold any public office for five years.

The PTI supreme leader, who is now jailed, suffered yet another setback before the Feb 8 polls when the IHC rejected his appeal to have the trial court's ruling in the Toshakhana case suspended.

Khan attempted to overturn the conviction in his plea submitted to the IHC, the same court that had halted his sentencing.

Khan claimed in the new plea that his sentence in the Toshakhana case had already been suspended and hence challenged the IHC's decision to be stayed.

He argued that the trial court's decision to suspend merely his sentence rather than the complete order of conviction, which prevents him from seeking public office, violates his basic right to contest elections.

"That taking advantage of the error in the order of the Islamabad High Court ... wherein although the sentence of the petitioner was suspended but the order was not, the Election Commission of Pakistan issued a notification ... and disqualified the applicant under article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, without even giving him an opportunity of being heard thereby blocking the fundamental rights, as enshrined under article 2, 2A, 4,9, 10A 15, 16, 17 & 25 of the Constitution, of the petitioner, to contest elections who at the time was heading the largest political in the country," the petition stated.

The 70-year-old politician was found guilty on August 5 of selling gifts from the state while serving as prime minister from 2018 to 22. He disputes the accusations. As a result, he was sentenced to three years in prison.