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IHC adjourns PTI chief’s plea challenging Toshakhana verdict till Friday
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday adjourned hearing on the appeal filed by former premier Imran Khan — currently incarcerated in Attock Jail — against his conviction and sentence in the Toshakhana case till Friday.
On August 5, a trial court in Islamabad had found the PTI chief guilty of “corrupt practices” in a case pertaining to concealing details of state gifts and sentenced him to three years in prison. The verdict means that he stands disqualified from contesting general elections for five years.
Imran had subsequently approached the high court against his conviction. He had also approached the apex court against the IHC’s decision to remand the case back to the trial court judge who had convicted him.
A day earlier, the Supreme Court had acknowledged “procedural defects” in Imran’s conviction by the trial court, but had opted to wait for the IHC’s decision on the PTI chief’s plea seeking suspension of the three-year sentence.
“Prima facie the decision by the additional sessions judge (ASJ) contains defects, but we will not intervene at this stage; rather [we will] wait for the outcome of the high court decision,” Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial observed during yesterday’s hearing before adjourning the proceedings to 2pm this afternoon.
As the hearing was still under way at the IHC, the top court adjourned hearings until the high court reaches a decision on the petition.
Speaking to the media before the hearing, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan — one of Imran’s lawyers — addressed reports regarding the alleged departure of senior counsel Khawaja Haris from the case.
“He (Haris) has not left the case. Additional counsels come and go … if an additional counsel comes it does not mean he has separated himself from the case,” he said.
In response to another question, Gohar said that Latif Khosa would be representing the ex-premier but also dispelled rumours that Haris had left after having issues with “discipline”.
“Khawaja sahib is a very good counsel and we respect his expertise,” he said.
Haris was not present in Imran’s legal team when the hearing began under IHC CJ Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri.
Advocates Salman Akram Raja, Latif Khosa, Babar Awan, Sher Afzal Marwat, Shoaib Shaheen, Barrister Ali Zafar and Barrister Ali Gohar apart from two dozen lawyers appeared on behalf of the PTI chief in the court.
The election commission was represented by Amjad Pervaiz.
Table of Contents
The hearing
At the outset of the hearing today, Imran’s counsel began his arguments.
Khosa contended that there were three grounds pertaining to the suspension of a sentence. “One is a short sentence,” he said. “The second is about the jurisdiction of the court.”
Khosa maintained that a sessions court did not have the jurisdiction to hear ECP’s appeal. “It should have sorted out the jurisdiction problem first.”
He said that according to the definition of the election commission, the body comprises the ECP chief and its members. “According to the law, the ECP has the right to let any of its employees file a complaint.”
“In this case, the election commission secretary authorises the district election commission,” Khosa said. “There is no authorisation by the commission in this case.”
He reiterated that the case was authorised by the election commission secretary. “The authorisation by the election commission bears the signatures of the ECP secretary.”
He went on to say that the sessions court announced the verdict without deciding the matter related to the jurisdiction and authorisation.
Khosa argued the trial court even overlooked the high court’s order and that the trial court’s decision had a lot of mistakes.
“IHC accepted our appeal in the face of the trial court order,” he said. “The high court had sent the case back to the trial court for a decision.”
Khosa highlighted that the high court ordered the trial court to answer the questions raised by the defence in its decision. “The trial court even ignored the orders of the high court,” he said, arguing that a sessions judge cannot hear the ECP’s appeal.
Khosa then spoke about various Supreme Court decisions used as a precedent in this regard.
“The complaint will first go to the magistrate and then the magistrate will forward it to the sessions court.” He clarified that they weren’t even challenging the trial court conducting this trial. The trial session court could do it, just not directly, Khosa added.
“Are the answers to the points raised by the high court present in the final judgment?” Khosa asked. “No, the additional sessions judge completely ignored the directives of the high court.”
He informed the court that they gave a list of witnesses during the defence. “The court declared them unrelated. The list was disregarded without being examined.”
“With all due respect you didn’t even stop the trial court to give a final decision,” Khosa told the IHC. “Whenever a case is under way in the high court, a trial court is always stopped from making a final decision.”
At this point, Justice Jahangiri interjected, saying: “On what grounds did the trial court disregard the list of witnesses?”
Khosa responded by saying that the court thought the witnesses were well-versed in matters concerning income tax. “The court said it was not looking at matters of income tax,” he said. The lawyer also said that the trial court asked why they were calling witnesses in the first place.
“I have another reservation: the complaint should have been finalised within 120 days,” Khosa said. “Chief Justice Aamer Farooq you are trying to say that the complaint was lodged after 120 days?”
“Your order came on August 4. The hearing under way was remanded back.”
Khosa informed the judges that on August 5 he challenged the IHC order in the Supreme Court. “There was also an attempt to kidnap Khawaja Haris’ clerk.”
Khosa further said that when Khawaja Haris reached the trial court, he was told by the judge that he should hear the order now.
“At 12:30 the judge started reading the order and announced a three-year sentence,” he said. “At 12:35 we found out that the Lahore police had reached [Zaman Park] to carry out the arrest.”
Imran’s lawyer told the court that he wasn’t even shedding light of the merits of the case as it was not needed.
“Have submitted the references regarding the short sentence, if you say I’ll read it too,” he said. “I have submitted references to judgments on all points.”
The arguments of Khosa ended here.
In his statement before the court, Barrister Gohar emphasised the necessity of adhering to the prescribed method outlined in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) for handling this complaint. He mentioned, “We had also submitted a plea in this regard, but unfortunately, the esteemed judge dismissed it.”
Adding to the discussion, ECP counsel Amjad Parvez pointed out that the PTI chief had been convicted on August 5, as documented. He highlighted, “The decision was subsequently contested in the high court on August 8.”
Parvez elaborated that the defendant had now taken the matter to the top court, challenging the verdict from the IHC. He observed, “This places the IHC’s division bench in a position between the trial court and the apex court, somewhat akin to a sandwich.”
Parvez underlined that the trial bench decisions of the top court were part of the official record and were still actionable. He clarified that the top court’s ruling had neither been reviewed nor contested.
Inquiring about the estimated time needed to conclude arguments in the case, the chief justice of IHC asked Parvez.
The counsel estimated that his arguments would require approximately three hours.
Khosa, however, noted that it was unprecedented for a case related to bail to consume three hours in court.
As the hearing approached its adjournment, the ECP lawyer requested the court to not schedule the hearing for Friday.
Justice Farooq conveyed that the division bench wouldn’t be available the next day, but said, “We will proceed with hearing the case.”
Subsequently, the hearing was adjourned till 11am on Friday.
The petition
Imran filed a petition in the IHC — through his lawyers — against the trial court’s August 5 verdict, saying that the said order was “not sustainable” and “liable to be set aside”. The plea named the district election commissioner of Islamabad as the respondent in the case.
It stated that the judgment passed by the trial court judge was “tainted with bias, is a nullity in the eye of the law and is liable to be set aside”.
Explaining the grounds for its request, the plea said that the Aug 5 order was passed “with the pre-disposed mind” of the trial court judge to convict and sentence the appellant “irrespective of the merits of the case”.
It said the order was issued without providing the petitioner with a chance to fight his case and alleged that ADSJ Dilawar had refused to hear the arguments of Khawaja Haris, Imran’s counsel in the Toshakhana case, on the pretext that he was late — which the plea claimed was because he was filing other applications with the Supreme Court and IHC.
“The impugned judgment was announced despite the fact that before commencement counsel for the appellant was very much in court fully prepared to address arguments after explaining the reasons for the delay in arriving in court, but the trial judge, who throughout the proceedings had been exhibiting his extreme bias towards the appellant and his counsel, and constantly using disparaging remarks against them, even in their absence, was bent on carrying out a well-orchestrated plan […].”
This, the petition said, was a “slap in the face due process and fair trial” and “a gross travesty of justice”.
It further alleged that the Aug 5 judgment was “already written” by the trial court judge, highlighting how the latter only took “30 minutes” to “dictate more than 35 pages” of the judgment.
Moreover, the petition said the verdict was in violation of the IHC’s Aug 4 orders, in which the high court had asked the trial court to “decide afresh” on the PTI chief’s application pertaining to the maintainability of the Toshakhana case.
Referring to the Supreme Court rules, the plea highlighted that “proceedings held by the learned trial court judge culminating in the conviction of the appellant in the instant case are corum non judice without jurisdiction thereby rendering the conviction and sentence of appellant void ab initio nugatory in the eyes of the law”.
It also highlighted that there was not an “iota” of evidence presented by the prosecution regarding the Toshakhana gifts and none of the witnesses provided by the ECP presented evidence in the case.
“The prosecution has not let any evidence whatsoever that the appellant had transferred any asset during any of the relevant financial years without adequate consideration or by revocable transfer.”
The petition subsequently prayed that the trial court verdict be set aside, while also urging the court to declare Imran’s conviction and sentence “illegal and without lawful authority”, and to acquit him of the charges.
• Originally a plastic surgeon at LGH, Mumtaz conducted illegal operations in private residences
• Officials say surgeries have claimed lives of several patients including foreign nationals
LAHORE: Notorious illegal kidney transplant surgeon Fawad Mumtaz, who was re-arrested a couple of days ago by Lahore police after he escaped from custody, has become a ‘test case’ for the criminal justice system and the law enforcement agencies, especially for the Punjab police.
Mumtaz has been booked and arrested several times by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Punjab police, but each time, he has managed to obtain bail and continued his illegal transplant racket.
According to his criminal record, Mumtaz has been running the largest-ever illegal kidney transplant racket across the country, especially in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir since 2009.
An official said that Mumtaz was originally a plastic surgeon at the state-run Lahore General Hospital. He was serving as an assistant professor when he was first suspended from service for conducting illegal transplant procedures.
The rogue surgeon has reportedly become a billionaire, exploiting rich clients and charging exorbitant amounts from clients — especially those from Gulf countries — to perform illegal transplant operations.
According to FIA and police investigations, Mumtaz would charge Rs10 million to Rs15 million from foreign clients/patients for each illegal kidney transplant and used to pay Rs100,000 to Rs150,000 to local donors, who his gang members would trap with the promise of employment or other lures.
The rogue surgeon would conduct the illegal transplant procedures in rented houses in private housing societies in cities across the province, it has emerged.
A few days ago, Lahore police picked him up from Taxila in connection with a case registered against him at Garden Town police station.
But shockingly, Mumtaz managed to flee from police custody, and the official explanation provided was that four of his armed accomplices attacked the police team and managed to free him.
The incident prompted caretaker Punjab chief minister Mohsin Naqvi to hold a press conference.
He told journalists on Sunday that Mumtaz has been re-arrested by Lahore police and action has been proposed against police officers who had taken him into custody before he managed to escape.
Lahore DIG Investigation Imran Kishwar told Dawn the accused was on physical remand and police were interrogating him. He said the officials responsible for his escape had been suspended from service and a departmental inquiry has been launched to punish them accordingly.
An official told Dawn that Mumtaz had a notorious criminal record spanning over a decade.
Currently, several cases are lodged against him in Lahore, Multan, Okara, Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Taxila and Rawalpindi.
The last case against him was registered in Taxila, where a joint team of the Punjab Human Organ Transplant Authority and local police arrested six suspects, including doctors and paramedics, during a raid in March.
Talking about illegal renal transplant procedures, the official said that Mumtaz had performed a kidney transplant on the daughter of famous comedian Umar Sharif in Azad Jammu and Kashmir in February 2020.
During the procedure, she developed serious complications and was brought to hospital in Lahore, where she breathed her last, the official said, adding that Mumtaz received Rs3.5 million from the family to perform the illegal transplant in AJK because there were no laws to prevent illegal human organ transplants in that territory.
FIA teams had also failed to arrest Mumtaz during an earlier raid on his residence in Lahore, and consequently, the rogue surgeon had managed to go into hiding. He was arrested by FIA in April 2017, when he had carried out illegal transplant procedures on Jordanian, Libyan and Omani nationals at EME Society in Lahore for Rs6m each.
Later, FIA revealed that a Jordanian national had died during the illegal procedure.
The deceased woman’s death certificate was faked by one of Mumtaz’s accomplices, Dr Altamash Kharal, and the body was kept in another private hospital in Defence before being sent back to Jordan. At the time, FIA had recommended action against Mumtaz and his accomplices.
Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2023
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Mountaineers Naila Kiani and Sirbaz Khan became the first Pakistani duo to summit the 8,201-metre-tall Cho Oyu — the world’s sixth-highest peak in China’s Tibet — on Monday.
The mountain is located on the Nepal-Tibet border 20 kilometres west of Mount Everest in the Mahalangur range. Cho Oyu means “Turquoise Goddess” in Tibetan.
The duo reached the summit earlier today at 12:30pm (Nepal Time) as part of the expedition led by Imagine Nepal. Khan made the climb without using any supplementary oxygen.
They successfully reached the summit just five days after crossing the Tibet border from Nepal.
Kiani became the first Pakistani woman climber to summit 10 peaks above 8,000m and the only Pakistani to ascend seven peaks above 8,000m in six months.
Meanwhile, Khan became the only Pakistani to summit 13 peaks above 8,000m with today’s success and the only one to conquer 10 mountains above 8,000m without the use of supplementary oxygen.
Last month, the two had also successfully completed the ascent of the world’s eighth-highest peak, 8,163m-tall Mt Manaslu, in Nepal. Subsequently, the duo had arrived in China with the aim of conquering both Cho Oyu and Shishapangma.
Kiani has already scaled Broad Peak (8,047m), Annapurna (8,091m), K2 (8,611m), Lhotse (8,516m), Gasherbrum I (8,068m), Gasherbrum II (8,035m), Nanga Parbat (8,125m) and Mount Everest (8,849m).
Saad Munawar, Khan’s expedition manager, told Dawn.com that Khan was on a mission to complete the challenging goal of conquering all 14 peaks above 8,000m.
“Hailing from the Hunza district of Gilgit-Baltistan, Sirbaz continues to make his homeland proud with his extraordinary mountaineering achievements,” he said.
Munawar also commended Kiani’s determination, emphasising that her ascent of the peak occurred under “extraordinarily challenging conditions” marked by poor visibility and adverse weather.
“The marathon climb, spanning over 28 hours, stands as a testament to her exceptional strength and mountaineering prowess,” he said.
Alpine Club of Pakistan Secretary Karrar Haidri felicitated Kiani and Khan for their triumphant ascent of Cho Oyu.
“We hold our collective hopes and prayers for their safe return from this extraordinary adventure. Their dedication to mountaineering is truly commendable, and their achievements serve as a wellspring of inspiration for all,” he remarked while talking to Dawn.com.
Separately, young Pakistani climber Shehroze Kashif reached the base camp of Cho Oyu and will commence his endeavour to ascend the peak from Tuesday (tomorrow).
The summit will mark his 13th conquest of an 8,000m peak.
He also scaled Manaslu last month.
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ISLAMABAD: Power sector circular debt continues to grow despite all the repeated tariff increases on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis as the government takes a strategic move towards billing in the consumer tariffs capacity charges payable to power producers.
This came to light when the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Monday notified a flat Rs3.2814 per unit additional quarterly tariff adjustment (QTA) in electricity bills of all consumer categories (except lifeline consumers) and companies including (K-Electric) for the next six months — October to March 2024. The overall revenue impact goes beyond Rs200bn which includes Rs136bn on account of additional cash flows to 10 ex-Wapda distribution companies (Discos), in addition to 18pc GST.
Simultaneously, the Power Division also silently put on its website the National Electric Plan (NEP) 2023-27 approved by the PDM-led coalition government on Aug 8 envisaging partial recovery of capacity charges payable to IPPs through fixed charges in all consumers except those in very poor category.
The Power Division on the other hand uploaded on its website a circular debt report for the period ending June 30, showing total payables to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) at Rs1.434 trillion and total circular debt at Rs2.31tr. The report card released after a gap of about three months showed payables to IPPs growing by Rs83bn and total circular debt by Rs57bn in FY23 when compared to the previous fiscal year. The payables to public sector generation companies also went up by Rs10bn to Rs111bn.
Caretaker govt silently adopts National Electric Plan 2023-27
Electric plan
“Fixed charges shall be progressively incorporated in the tariffs of all consumer segments except consumers of protected category. Such fixed charges shall duly account for, inter alia, the share of capacity cost in cost of service, market interventions, consumption behaviours and affordability of consumers,” said the NEP which has now been adopted by the caretaker government as well. “It is aimed that by FY27, the fixed charges shall account for at least 20pc of the fixed cost of the respective categories evaluated through a cost-of-service study,” it added.
The plan envisages the continuation of cross-subsidies — electricity to be charged at higher rates from commercial, industrial and higher consumption residential consumers — to finance the sociopolitical responsibility of the government to provide subsidy to the lifeline and protected-category consumers but promises full overall cost recovery of the electricity supply through enhanced rates from all consumers. “Tariffs for the residential consumers shall be progressively adjusted to align with the principle of cost-of-service,” it added.
The tariff design shall be regularly revisited to foster market interventions, cross-subsidy rationalisation, bill & revenue stability and customer satisfaction through multi-part tariff structures, creation & restructuring of slabs in existing categories of the consumers and creation of new categories, etc.
Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2023
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