IHC chief justice laments shortcomings in system as Toshakhana case hearing continues
Pakistan
The court adjourns hearing till 3pm today
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq remarked on Thursday that there were shortcomings in the system as it was not a perfect one, calling for efforts to plug the loopholes.
The chief justice made the remarks as he took up a set of petitions filed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against the trial court’s decisions regarding admissibility of Toshakahan case, rejection of witness list and others.
PTI chief’s lawyers Khawaja Harris and Barrister Gohar, and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) counsel Amjad Parvez appeared before court.
At the outset of the hearing, Mr Harris said the trial court had rejected their plea to present witnesses in defence of his client. He said haste was being showed in the case by trial court as it had warned of reserving the verdict today (Thursday).
He argued that how the ruling could be issued in a case when various petitions were pending in the high court, adding that such moves reflected the prejudice by the trial court’s judge.
At one point, the IHC CJ said the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had submitted its report on alleged Facebook posts by the trial court’s judge. In reply, Mr Harris said the report showed that the posts were not shared from the judge’s Facebook handle, adding: “How we can accept the biased report”.
The chief justice said he would take the FIA report as an initial findings.
Mr Harris said the IHC was hearing eight miscellaneous petitions of the PTI, adding that the orders being issued by the trial court reflected its partiality. Raising concerns over hearing of the Toshakhana case on daily basis, he pleaded the court to halt trial proceedings against his client.
The chief justice remarked that in his opinion trial must be conducted on day to day basis. Later, the PTI lawyer submitted arguments regarding the jurisdiction of the trial court, saying as per the law the case should have been sent to the magistrate.
After hearing arguments, the judge adjourned the case till 3pm.
