ECP issues production order for Imran Khan

In a significant development, the country’s poll oversight authority has issued a production order for former prime minister Imran Khan in connection with a contempt case.

A four-member bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will charge-sheet Imran and two others, Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry, on October 24 for allegedly using "intemperate, unparliamentary language" and making "contemptuous remarks" against the ECP.

Imran Khan is currently detained at Rawalpindi’s Adiala, and his trial in the diplomatic cipher case is being held inside the jail premises due to security concerns.

The ECP's order of October 11, which was released to the media on Thursday, states, “Production orders of the respondent [Imran Khan] are hereby issued under Section 10 of the Elections Act, 2017, read with Rule 4 of the Elections Rules, 2017, and further read with relevant provisions of the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003."

“Under this production order, the respondent shall be produced only before the ECP on 24.10.2023 at 10:00 am, and after the culmination of proceedings, [he] shall be returned to jail forthwith," it said.

The ECP noted that directions regarding the production of the PTI chairman should be conveyed to the superintendent of Adiala Jail to make all necessary arrangements for presenting Imran before the ECP.

“The Inspector General Police, Islamabad, and Inspector General Police, Punjab shall ensure foolproof security arrangements for the production of [the] respondent,” the order read.

The ECP issued the production order after Imran’s counsel, Shoaib Shaheen, stated at the last hearing of the contempt case that the PTI chief was confined in Adiala jail and could attend the ECP proceedings only if his production orders were issued.

The counsel also sought time to file a reply to the ECP show cause notice dated September 13, 2022.

“The question which needs consideration is that after having been disposed of by the august Supreme Court vide judgment dated 06.12.2022, had the respondent left any further excuse for not filing a reply to the show cause notice," the order read. "The straightforward answer is negative.”

The bench noted that the respondent was bound under sub-rule 9 of rule 4 of the Election Rules of 2017 to submit a reply to the show cause notice on the very next date after the apex court’s decision. It, however, allowed the request with directions that the “counsel may file a reply of his client before the date fixed as a last chance, failing which it shall be concluded that the respondent has nothing to reply.”

The ECP stated that the contempt case has been pending adjudication since August 2022 and has to be decided without any further delay. Since Imran is in jail, it said, “there is no alternative except to issue a production order for the respondent, namely Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi."

The ECP has also listed a petition seeking the removal of the former prime minister as the head of his PTI party. A five-member ECP bench will hear the petition on October 26.

The ECP on Thursday released the cause list for the next week, stating that it has admitted the request seeking the removal of Imran as the PTI chief and issued notices in this regard to both the former premier and the complainant, Khalid Mahmood.

Mahmood had filed the petition after a trial court on August 5 convicted Imran in a gift-repository case, sentencing him to three years in prison while also disqualifying him as a lawmaker for five years. According to the country's law, a convicted person cannot lead a political party.

The ECP has issued bailable warrants for the arrest of Fawad Chaudhry, who served as a minister in Imran’s cabinet but announced leaving the party following a government crackdown after the May 9 riots.

In a separate order, it noted that it emerged from previous order sheets that Chaudhry is seeking adjournment on one pretext or another and is reluctant to appear voluntarily. “In such a view of the matter, we have been left with no alternative except to issue bailable warrants for [Fawad].”