ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday granted time to lawyers to take instructions from the founder of PTI and Bushra Bibi on whether the central appeal against the sentence in £190 million case should be heard first or the plea for the suspension of sentences should be decided.
Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar remarked that if the appeal is scheduled, the suspension of sentence will not be heard. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif heard various petitions in the £190 million case.
NAB Special Prosecutor Javed Ashraf said that he has filed two various petitions raising objections to the suspension of sentence applications and regarding their admissibility. He stated that if there is no notice in the central appeal, the suspension of sentence applications cannot be heard.
Barrister Salman Safdar said that in January 2025, the founder of PTI and Bushra Bibi were convicted and after 14 months, they are not yet on the main appeal and want the sentence suspended and their release on bail. He also said that they have not met the founder and Bushra Bibi for five months and could not take their instructions with regard to arguments on the appeals. The Chief Justice then asked if the lawyers were given two days a week, would they be able to present arguments on the appeal? He added that they should take instructions from their clients, after which the court would set a hearing date.
Barrister Salman Safdar stated that appeals in the Toshakhana-1 case have not been filed, with previous appeals still pending, and argued that these should be heard first. He added that in NAB cases, women are typically granted bail within 15 days and urged the court to consider their requests for suspension of sentence.
Meanwhile, the PTI urged the judiciary to decide the “long-delayed” £190 million Al-Qadir Trust case strictly on merit and judiciously, so that convictions arising from a politically motivated and unfounded prosecution can be set aside. In a statement issued here, PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram welcomed the scheduling of Al-Qadir Trust case hearing after prolonged and unjustified delays. He claimed that the case is a clear act of political victimisation, as no evidence of corruption or personal financial gain has been presented despite lengthy proceedings. “It is high time the court decided the matter promptly on its merits and suspended the politically engineered sentences of January 17, 2025, which remain a stain on the judicial record, so that convictions arising from an unfair and politically motivated trial can be rectified without further delay,” he argued.
The party spokesman also condemned the “unlawful, arbitrary and politically motivated action” of sealing a welfare school in Rajana, Toba Tek Singh, by the Punjab School Education Department merely because Imran Khan’s sister, Noreen Khan Niazi, addressed its prize distribution ceremony. He noted that the school, run under the supervision of retired Brigadier Javed Akram, who is serving a six-year sentence, provides education and training to 700 underprivileged children. He emphasised that no violation of law had occurred, and that the sealing of school represents clear political victimisation.
Referring to Ume Rubab Chandio’s family murder case, Waqas noted that even after seven years and more than 400 hearings, the accused were acquitted due to lack of evidence, raising serious questions about the performance of investigative system.
