More Toshakhana witnesses give testimonies

An accountability court on Saturday recorded testimonies of four more prosecution witnesses while hearing a reference that accuses former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi of misusing the state's gift repository—Toshakhana—for personal gains.

Islamabad Accountability Court-I Judge Muhammad Bashir presided over the hearing of the case held at a courtroom inside Rawalpindi's famous Adiala Jail.

The hearing was attended by some 20 to 25 PTI workers as well as around a dozen journalists.

The court will resume hearing the case on Monday, Jan 15, 2024.

During the proceedings, the PTI founder addressed the judge, stating that news with regard to his party was not being reported in the media.

He then turned to the journalists and asked them if the media was covering news related to the former ruling party.

Imran was, however, astounded when the reporters present in the courtroom told him that the media was covering all news about the PTI, including his statements.

The court also summoned two journalists—Rizwan Qazi, former president of the Islamabad High Court Journalists Association, and Yasar Hakim Mughal, the president of Rawalpindi’s Crime and Court Reporters Association—and asked them to compile a list of journalists working at Adiala Jail.

The journalists responded that they were willing to provide the list of journalists as requested by the jail administration.
The court mentioned that it would review the list later, and the matter was resolved amicably between journalists, prosecutors, Imran’s lawyers and the jail administration.

Talking to the PTI founder before the hearing, workers expressed complaints about the distribution of tickets. Some of them told Imran that a woman candidate nominated for a reserved seat also wanted to contest polls on a general seat.

In response to complaints about the distribution of party tickets, Imran said he was not allowed by the authorities to consult on the matter of tickets, and he did not know who received a ticket and who had not. He questioned how he could decide on the distribution of around 800 tickets through verbal communication.