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ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad high court Wednesday admitted a petition seeking former Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s disqualification as a lawmaker on grounds of him concealing the existence of his allegedly illegitimate daughter, Tyrian White, while filing his nomination papers.
The plea has been scheduled for hearing on December 20, making this the second such case against Imran after his disputed disqualification by the country’s election commission in October for allegedly withholding information about his assets and liabilities.
The high court had issued notice to Imran and the election commission on December 9, seeking details crucial to deciding if a plea seeking the former PM’s disqualification as lawmaker was maintainable. The court had last month reserved its verdict on the maintainability of the petition filed by one Sajid Mehmood.
The petition claims that Imran wrongfully mentioned in his nomination papers that he had two dependants in sons Sulaiman and Qasim. The plea seeks issuance of summons to the ex-PM to inquire into the reasons for violation of Article 62, which states “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 trustworthy”.
“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,” the petition claims, adding that Imran’s daughter had been residing in London and “he made appropriate arrangements for her but hid the information about her in the nomination papers and affidavit”.
Article 62 sets preconditions for a member of parliament to be “sadiq and ameen” (honest and righteous). It is the same provision under which former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by a five-judge Supreme Court bench on July 28, 2017, in the Panama Papers case.
The plea has been scheduled for hearing on December 20, making this the second such case against Imran after his disputed disqualification by the country’s election commission in October for allegedly withholding information about his assets and liabilities.
The high court had issued notice to Imran and the election commission on December 9, seeking details crucial to deciding if a plea seeking the former PM’s disqualification as lawmaker was maintainable. The court had last month reserved its verdict on the maintainability of the petition filed by one Sajid Mehmood.
The petition claims that Imran wrongfully mentioned in his nomination papers that he had two dependants in sons Sulaiman and Qasim. The plea seeks issuance of summons to the ex-PM to inquire into the reasons for violation of Article 62, which states “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 trustworthy”.
“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,” the petition claims, adding that Imran’s daughter had been residing in London and “he made appropriate arrangements for her but hid the information about her in the nomination papers and affidavit”.
Article 62 sets preconditions for a member of parliament to be “sadiq and ameen” (honest and righteous). It is the same provision under which former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by a five-judge Supreme Court bench on July 28, 2017, in the Panama Papers case.
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