The Islamabad High Court’s records have revealed that the judge who traveled to the UK after convicting PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case had actually been shortlisted for a training course in London over two months ago. The departure of Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Humayun Dilawar was not an impromptu decision but rather a result of his initial nomination for the course and subsequent approval of his private visa.
In May, the University of Hull nominated eight officers of the Islamabad Judicial Service (IJS) for judicial training on human rights and rule of law. Although ADSJ Dilawar was initially dropped from the nomination when his visa was not approved, he later obtained a private visa to attend the course. Another nominee who failed to obtain his visa in time was replaced by ADSJ Dilawar.
The training sessions, scheduled from August 5 to 13, included ADSJs Abida Sajjad and Humayun Dilawar, civil judges Ayesha Shabbir, Saqib Jawad, Sanam Bukhari, Samia Iqbal, and Rizwanuddin Qureshi, and SC officer Hasan Riaz. Due to processing errors, ADSJs and civil judges Jawad, Qureshi, and Shabbir couldn’t obtain visas.
On June 21, the varsity nominated four other judges from IJS and one officer from KP Judicial Service. The nominations were approved by the IHC. Meanwhile, ADSJ Dilawar applied for a visa and leave to visit the UK privately, and he was granted the visa. Although initially kept on the waiting list by the university, ADSJ Dilawar was later nominated again when ADSJ Haider’s visa got delayed.
Contrary to previous speculation, there was no sudden or secretive arrangement regarding the judge’s trip to the UK. The records clearly indicate that the judge’s participation in the training course was planned well in advance.