Tyrian White: IHC reserves verdict on admissibility of petition against IK

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) reserved verdict over the maintainability of a petition seeking the disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan for concealing his alleged daughter Tyrian White.

A larger bench, headed by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Arbab Tahir, on Thursday, heard the petition seeking disqualification of Imran Khan for concealing his alleged daughter in the nomination papers submitted to contest the 2018 general elections.

During the hearing, Hamid Shah contended that Imran Khan did not declare Tyrian White as his daughter in the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) due to which he cannot hold the position of party chairman. He added that all facts related to the case have been submitted in the court along with the petition while Khan has not responded to any of those.

Justice Farooq said according to the record so far Khan has neither denied nor accepted anything. He further said that the hearing was being held to decide the maintainability of the petition.

The petitioner’s lawyers stated that Khan had mentioned his wife Bushra Bibi and two sons, Qasim and Suleman in the affidavit. He added that Khan had mentioned that both his sons live with their mother and are not financially dependent on him.

He continued that the PTI chairman has not disclosed details of his alleged daughter, Tyrian, who was not married and as per Islamic laws was dependent on her father financially. He argued that even if the case is regarding the party chairman then it too should be admitted for hearing as according to the court decisions a person is disqualified under Article 62(1)(f) for submitting a false affidavit.

At that, the bench observed that what will happen if the bench decides that the affidavit was false? Shah responded that in such a case, Khan will be disqualified from the party head’s position and nor he can become a member of the National Assembly.

The court also inquired about the ECP’s stance in this regard. At this, the ECP’s lawyer said that such petitions have been rejected in the past.

The IHC bench expressed its annoyance after the ECP sought the court’s permission to submit documents. The lawyer defended themselves saying that they only wanted to inform the court that they have dismissed this case earlier due to lack of evidence.

Later, the court reserved the judgment and deferred the proceedings. 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.

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.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023