ISLAMABAD: Security has been beefed up outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s office ahead of the Toshakhana reference verdict involving former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan.
The ECP will announce the verdict in the Toshakhana reference on Friday (today) at 2 pm.
A large number of police, Rangers and FC personnel in riot gear have been deployed outside the ECP office while all roads leading to the red zone have been maned by deploying additional security.
Sources said that tear-gas shells have also been transported to the ECP office in the wake of the expected reaction from PTI workers, who may resort to creating a law-and-order situation in case of an adverse verdict against the party chief and the former prime minister.
Islamabad police said that PTI workers will not be allowed to proceed to the ECP and violators will be dealt with strictly and according to the law.
ECP’s urgent letter
Earlier, the ECP issued a letter, ordering all parties concerned or their counsel to appear before the election commission and its secretary in Islamabad.
The ECP also sent a letter to the Islamabad police, seeking foolproof security inside and outside the secretariat throughout the day to ‘avoid any untoward incident’.
The ECP letter also asked for deploying two security guards in civies and traffic police personnel to regulate traffic outside the ECP office. The ECP stressed that all necessary security arrangements should be put in place, especially outside the ECP secretariat and that the matter was considered “urgent”.
The ECP reserved its decision in the Toshakhana case on September 19. The reference was filed against the PTI chairman by the coalition government for not sharing details of Toshakhana’s donations and proceeds of their sale.
Toshakhana, established in 1974, is a department under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division and conserves valuable gifts given to leaders, parliamentarians, civil servants, and officers by heads of governments and states or officials of others countries.
According to the Toshakhana law, gifts and other similar things received by public office holders must be reported to the Cabinet Division.
Last Hearing
During the last hearing in the Toshakhana reference, Imran Khan’s counsel Ali Zafar had admitted that his client had sold at least four presents he had received between 2018 and 2019.
“The gifts were sold for Rs58 million and their receipts were enclosed with the income tax returns filed by my client,” Barrister Ali Zafar told the ECP.
He said that Khan had provided the gifts’ details up to 2021 in his written reply to the election commission.
“The ECP conducts scrutiny if the body has doubts on any details but in this case, the election body did not raise any objection,” Imran’s counsel argued.
In 2019-20, he told the ECP that Khan received gifts worth Rs1.7 million.
An ECP member asked about the source of income for procuring the gifts from the state treasury. To this, the lawyer said he would not give the ECP the details.
The Toshakhan case
In August 2022, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf sent a reference to the ECP, seeking the disqualification Imran Khan, after Ali Gohar Khan, PMLN’s Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha and five others filed the reference.
The 28-page reference identified 52 gift items of Toshakhana received by Khan in violation of the law, and at a nominal price, and most of the gifts were sold in the market, including some precious watches.
The assessed value of the gifts has been put at Rs142 million. Imran Khan received the gifts between August 2018 and December 2021.
