ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s lawyer told the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that the state cannot compel anyone for a DNA test.
A larger bench, headed by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Arbab Tahir, on Wednesday, heard the case regarding the disqualification of the PTI chief Imran Khan for concealing his alleged daughter in the nomination papers submitted to contest the 2018 general elections.
Sajid Mahmood has approached the IHC claiming that although Imran made arrangements for Tyrian White’s upkeep abroad, he did not disclose it in nomination papers and affidavits filed by him for elections.
During the hearing, Khan’s lawyer Salman Akram Raja argued on the question of admissibility of the petition that this court had dismissed the same petition in the past. He said the matter relate to 1992 while the affidavit was submitted in 2018.
The petitioner’s counsel Hamid Shah informed the bench that earlier, they had photocopied documents but now, they have brought new attested documents which will be submitted on Thursday (today).
Raja contended that the state cannot compel anyone for a DNA test and in such matters, the willingness of the affected person is necessary. He continued that there is no law which permits to carry out forceful DNA test. He maintained that on this single point, this case comes to a dead end. He argued that it is a sponsored petition and prayed to the court that it may dismiss the same.
Later, the bench deferred the hearing till Thursday for further proceedings.
In this matter, the petitioner is seeking disqualification of the PTI chief, an MNA from the 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 to 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 willfully 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.”
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 Majlis-e-Shoora (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, 2023
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