‘Concealment of daughter’ IHC seeks reply from IK in disqualification petition

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) directed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to submit a reply in a petition seeking his disqualification as a lawmaker for “concealing his alleged daughter” in the nomination papers.

A single bench of Chief Justice Aamer Farooq on Tuesday heard the petition of a citizen, Muhammad Sajid. The IHC in the last hearing had issued a pre-admission notice to the PTI chief and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to help the court o decide if the petition is maintainable?

During the hearing, Khan’s legal team comprising Salman Akram Raja, Azhar Siddique, and Abuzar Salman Niazi appeared before the Court.

Salman Akram Raja argued that a verdict in an identical case had already been announced by the IHC. The ECP counsel endorsed the argument of Raja, saying that this matter had been raised before the institution many times but the complaints had been dismissed.

The CJ IHC directed Khan’s counsel to submit his written reply in this matter. At that Raja prayed the court to grant some time. The bench accepting the request adjourned the case until 19 January 2023.

The petitioner has sought disqualification of the PTI chief, from his NA-95 Mianwali-I constituency, contending that all candidates contesting elections for either national or provincial assemblies are required to furnish an affidavit with respect of their credentials and assets.

He said that one such information is about the children who are dependent on a candidate, and in this connection, Imran had wrongly mentioned two children including “Qasim Khan and Sulaiman Khan” and had omitted the third.

He claimed, “The respondent no. 1 (Imran Khan) has deliberately and wilfully failed to declare his daughter, Tyrian White, in the relevant columns of the nomination papers and the affidavit appended therewith; hence, he is not sagacious, righteous, honest and a man of good character in terms of Article 62 of the Constitution.”

He also said that “Article 62 of the Constitution, as interpreted by various judgments of the superior courts, prescribes that a candidate shall only qualify to be elected as a member of the National Assembly if he is of good character and is not commonly known as one who violates Islamic Injunctions; and he has adequate knowledge of Islamic teachings and practices; obligatory duties prescribed by Islam, as well as, abstaining from major sins.”

The petitioner urged the court to summon the former prime minister and inquire about the reasons for the violation of Article 62 of the Constitution, which says, “a person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Parliament unless — he is sagacious, righteous, non-profligate, honest and ameen, there being no declaration to the contrary by a court of law”.

He also prayed to the court to question Imran for “submitting a false declaration and affidavit and as to why he should be allowed to be a member of the parliament … and may not be de-seated in all accumulated consequences for the violation of the Constitution and the law.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022