By Asif Naveed
ISLAMABAD (MNN); The Islamabad High Court will hear petitions filed by former prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi seeking suspension of their sentences in the £190 million corruption case on March 11.
A division bench of the Islamabad High Court comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan resumed proceedings on Thursday.
During the hearing, the bench expressed displeasure when dozens of lawyers affiliated with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf stood up and approached the rostrum at the same time. “What is this? Are you trying to influence the court?” the chief justice remarked. Imran’s counsel, Barrister Salman Sardar, denied the allegation.
The lawyer argued that the matter had gained urgency due to the former premier’s sudden eye ailment. He also submitted that Bushra Bibi, despite being a woman, was serving a seven-year sentence and that her plea for suspension had been pending for six months. He requested the court to suspend the sentences, noting that the last order in the case was issued on November 9.
Justice Dogar observed that most miscellaneous applications seeking early hearings had become infructuous but directed that office objections on the suspension petitions be removed. The chief justice instructed the registrar’s office to fix both the suspension petitions and the main criminal appeals for March 11 before adjourning proceedings.
In a related development, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro removed office objections on petitions seeking suspension of Imran and Bushra’s sentences in the Toshakhana 2.0 case and ordered that the pleas and appeals be numbered and fixed for hearing according to court policy.
An Islamabad accountability court on January 17, 2025 sentenced Imran Khan to 14 years and Bushra Bibi to seven years in prison in the £190 million case, also known as the Al-Qadir Trust case. The couple challenged their convictions before the high court on January 27, 2025.
The case alleges that the couple received billions of rupees and land measuring hundreds of kanals from Bahria Town Ltd to legalise Rs50 billion that had been identified and repatriated to Pakistan by the United Kingdom during the PTI government.
Imran Khan, who has been imprisoned since August 5, 2023 for concealing details of Toshakhana gifts, is currently serving his sentence at Adiala Jail. He was also convicted in another Toshakhana case in December 2025 and faces pending trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act in connection with the May 9, 2023 riots.
His legal team has repeatedly approached the high court for early hearings in multiple pending cases. A day earlier, his sister Aleema Khanum criticised delays in court proceedings, while PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja complained that contempt petitions against the Adiala jail administration over non-compliance with court orders had not been heard.
PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan also said that pleas seeking suspension of sentences in the £190 million case had been pending for over a year despite judicial policy requiring such matters to be decided within 35 to 60 days. The party has additionally moved the Supreme Court for early hearings in the assets concealment case and for Imran’s treatment at a hospital of his choice.
