As the Supreme Court’s special bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial takes up PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s petitions in the Toshakhana case on Wednesday (today), the party has given a momentum to its aggressive policy towards Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq by announcing that it will file a complaint of misconduct against him on account of “biased conduct” in the former premier’s cases.
The CJP formed a three-judge special bench comprising Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail to take up the PTI chief’s petitions filed during his trial in the Toshakhana case.
A lawyer maintained that the composition of the special bench reflected that an extraordinary order may be passed.
However, he noted that the PTI Core Committee made a “blunder” by having issued a harsh statement against the IHC chief justice for not suspending Imran’s conviction in the Toshakhana case.
He said this move may make the granting of relief by the apex court to the PTI chief troublesome, adding that suspension of former premier’s conviction may get further delayed if the IHC chief justice recuses himself from the bench.
During Tuesday’s hearing of the case, several lawyers of the PTI came to the rostrum. Imran’s counsel Latif Khosa argued aggressively, and was visibly annoyed with the IHC for not giving timely relief to his client.
Interestingly, the other PTI chief’s senior lawyers, Khawaja Haris and Salman Sardar, were not present during the hearing. Due to their absence, a lack of coordination was witnessed among former ruling party’s legal team.
