- IHC schedules early hearing of £190 million case on March 11.
- PTI founder’s medical condition raised as urgent consideration.
- Lawyers stress long delays and procedural irregularities in jail.
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday fixed March 11 for the hearing of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s appeals seeking suspension of their sentences in the £190 million reference, after miscellaneous petitions were filed requesting the urgent listing of their main appeals.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sardar Sarfaraz Dogar and Justice Azam Khan heard the petitions, with Barrister Salman Safdar appearing for the PTI founder.
The PTI founder and his wife had approached the IHC after they were handed 14-year and seven-year sentences, respectively, by Accountability Court Judge Nasir Javed Rana in January 2025.
During the hearing, a large number of lawyers approached the rostrum, prompting Chief Justice Dogar to ask whether they were attempting to influence the court proceedings. The court instructed PTI lawyers to take their designated seats during proceedings.
Barrister Safdar told the court that the PTI founder was facing an eye problem and had been taken to the hospital for treatment.
He said that despite repeated requests, the bail suspension pleas had been pending for a year and the Registrar’s office had not scheduled their early hearing.
He added that requests for bail suspension had been pending for a year, with five miscellaneous applications filed seeking urgent hearing. He urged the court to fix a date for their consideration, ideally during Ramadan, within a week.
The court subsequently directed that the bail suspension pleas of Imran and Bibi in the £190 million reference be scheduled for hearing on March 11 and approved their plea for expedited consideration.
Speaking to journalists outside the IHC, Barrister Safdar said that today’s hearing involved the PTI founder’s case but that they had not received the necessary power of attorney documents. He raised concerns over the jail superintendent’s “negligence and irresponsibility”.
He said the case hearing had been adjourned to March 11, adding that the long interval between hearings was troubling.
Meanwhile, Imran’s sister Aleema Khan said the extended delay in hearings was “distressing” and noted that her brother had a serious eye condition.
Uzma Khan called on political actors not to politicise the PTI founder’s health and demanded that doctors provide a public report of his medical condition.
PTI lawyer Advocate Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry also spoke to journalists, saying that today marked the first hearing of the PTI founder and Bibi’s cases in seven months.
He said the appeal in the Toshakhana case had been pending for two months and that a regular appeal number had now been allotted.
Al-Qadir Trust case
The Al-Qadir Trust case, commonly known as the £190m case involved allegations that Imran and some others in 2019 adjusted Rs50 billion — amounting to £190 million at the time — sent by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government during his tenure as the country’s prime minister.
The concerned amount relates to a property tycoon’s assets which were seized by the NCA during PTI’s rule. The British crime agency back then had said that the amount was supposed to be passed to the Government of Pakistan as its settlement with the Pakistani property tycoon was “a civil matter, and does not represent a finding of guilt”.
