ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), was given an additional week by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday to file a response in the Toshakhana case that is being brought against him.
In front of a five-member commission bench led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, attorney Gohar Ali Khan begged for extra time to submit a response.
He claimed that because Barrister Ali Zafar, the PTI chairman’s lead attorney, was in Lahore, he was unable to talk with him about the situation. He promised to do his best to present the response at the subsequent hearing.
The CEC pointed out that since everything was documented, it shouldn’t take too long to file a response.But extra time was given to the PTI leader, and the hearing was postponed until September 7.
Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, the speaker of the National Assembly, had earlier this month sent a reference to the ECP asking for Mr. Khan to be disqualified in light of the Toshakhana case. According to the reference, Mr. Khan failed to disclose the presents he got from Toshakhana as assets or the precise sum he earned from selling them.
The former prime minister had earlier in April stated that those were his presents and that it was up to him whether or not to keep them in response to the Toshakhana scandal during an informal media chat.
