Shahzad Ahmad
LAHORE - A Lahore High Court (LHC) judge on Thursday sent a petition seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Imran Khan to the LHC chief justice so as to form a full bench to hear the petition.
Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza of the LHC proposed the formation of a full bench to hear the petition filed by Advocate AK Dogar seeking to disqualify the premier.
The petitioner argued that accused the prime minister of working against Pakistan’ sovereignty and the country’s political system. He alleged in his petition that Imran Khan had incited people of civil unrest during former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s government.
The petitioner further alleged that Imran Khan along with his supporters attacked the Parliament building and smashed its gates.
The petitioner argued that due to the said reason, the prime minister should be disqualified as member of the Parliament. “Imran Khan urged people to neither pay taxes nor send foreign remittances. Imran Khan along with his supporters stormed the Parliament House and smashed its gates,” the petition stated.
Hearing the petition, the LHC judge said it was a matter of immense importance; “hence a full bench should be constituted to hear the case.”
The judge sent the case file with his suggestion to the chief justice of Lahore High Court.
Earlier, the Lahore High Court had ordered the counsel of the complainant to present additional arguments in order for the plea to be maintainable. On October 18, 2018, the apex court had dismissed a review petition, filed by now incarcerated PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi, challenging the verdict of a disqualification case against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The case was heard by a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar in Islamabad. The bench maintained that “no lawful point has been raised in the petition” that it be reviewed.
Petitioner’s lawyer Advocate Akram Sheikh however had said the court had disregarded rights. Abbasi had moved the top court to constitute a full court bench for resolving disputed interpretations of disqualifications laid down in Panama Case Judgment and judgments on the petitions seeking disqualification of the prime minister and former Secretary General of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Jahangir Khan Tareen.
The application lamented that there were no uniform guidelines about how an election dispute would be treated by the top court. The petition stated, “Lack of clarity and presence of such unanswered questions in the public space is not warranted as it may have impact on image of this ultimate court of justice and the citizens would not have safety of knowing consequences of an omission or an honest mistake or of a knowing mis-declaration in the nomination forms.”
Citing the Panama Case, it stated that the SC had not considered any element of intention in order to establish any element of dishonesty. The application stated that rule of strict liability had been applied in Panama Case while on the other hand in Khan’s case no such rule was applied. The review petition had been filed against the December 15 order requesting the apex court to disqualify the prime minister for not fulfilling the qualification laid down in Article 62 (1) (f) of the Constitution as well as section 99 (1) (f) of Representation of Peoples Act 1976.
The application stated that another bench of the top court in Panama Case, that had been filed by the incumbent prime minister when he was in opposition, had declared Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Nawaz Sharif as not being honest in terms of the same provisions.