District and Sessions Court in Islamabad on Wednesday asked parties in the Toshakhana reference to complete their arguments by tomorrow or else the right of defence would be taken away from them and verdict would be reserved in the case, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Judge Humayun Dilawar also said that four witnesses named by former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan were not ‘relevant to the case'.  

Earlier, Imran’s lawyer Barrister Gohar Ali Khan filed in the court plea for his client’s exemption from appearance in the court today.  

The judge asked Gohar as to where were the witnesses?

He replied that he had sought time from him for producing the witnesses.

Amjad Pervez, counsel for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), on the occasion, said he had failed to understand as to how private witnesses were relevant to the case. “The case is related to the details of assets filed by the defendant,” he said, adding, “Of these four witnesses, three are tax consultants. This is despite the fact that the case is not of income tax returns or wealth statement.” 

ECP’s lawyer then read out the answer given by PTI chief to question no 30 on the questionnaire.

He said that Imran had written that he did not rely on his tax returns.

The judge then asked Imran’s lawyer to mention names of the witnesses.

Barrister Gohar said one of them was Usman Ali who had filled in Form B for the former prime minister since no MNA filled in the Form himself or herself.  

He then sought permission from the judge for producing Usman in the court. “We were given less than 24 hours to produce witnesses in the court. Please give us two days so that we could bring them to the court,” Imran’s lawyer requested.

He said if witnesses turned out to be irrelevant to the case, then it was up to the court to order that their statements should not be recorded. “After all it is a 500-page document. All the witnesses will appear in the court day after tomorrow and give their testimonies either in the support or against the document,” he added.

Barrister Gohar said he and his client expected justice from the court. “We want a level playing field,” he said.

Judge Dilawar remarked the case was related to submitting a false affidavit. “According to the ECP, the suspect was supposed to submit the Form B himself,” he said, and added, “The election commission’s lawyer has opined that the witnesses are not related to the case, and by not producing real witnesses, PTI wants to prolong the case.”    

While according to Imran’s lawyer, the judge said, the witnesses were not presently in Islamabad, and, therefore, he had sought time from the court until Friday.

“Defence counsel has admitted that all four witnesses are tax consultants,” Judge Dilawar said, and added, “The suspect has failed to prove that the witnesses he has named are connected to the case. Therefore, these persons cannot be produced in the court as witnesses.”

The court then adjourned hearing of the case until 11:00 AM tomorrow.

Reporter: Farzana Siddique