ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court of Pakistan Wednesday turned down a petition seeking disqualification of former federal minister for Industries and Production Khusro Bakhtiar and the ex-Punjab Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht. A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, and comprising Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Ayesha A Malik heard the petition against the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf leaders. In this matter, Muhammad Ahsan Abid, a petitioner, contended that Bakhtiar and his brother, Jawan Bakht had hidden assets. The bench asked from the petitioner that he could not provide evidence regarding concealment of assets even to the Election Commission. Justice Ayesha stated, “The document you are relying on is a complaint filed with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Should two members of the National Assembly be disqualified on the basis of a complaint?”
Justice Ijaz questioned from the petitioner, “Did you contest the election against Khusro Bakhtiar? How many votes did you get?” He replied, “Khusro Bakhtiar got 100,000 votes and I got about 1,000 votes.”
At the conclusion of the arguments, Justice Naqvi advised the petitioner to withdraw his application. “It will be appropriate to withdraw the application, and wait for new elections,” he said. The petitioner is voter of NA-177 Rahim Yar Khan and had contested general elections from the same constituency