ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday reserved its verdict over maintainability of a petition seeking disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan for concealing his alleged daughter Tyrian White.
A larger bench of the IHC headed by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Arbab Tahir conducted hearing of the petition seeking disqualification of Khan for concealing his alleged daughter in the nomination papers submitted to contest the general elections in 2018.
In this mater, petitioner Sajid Mahmood 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 IHC bench reserved the verdict after hearing the arguments of the petitioner’s lawyer Hamid Ali Shah and Khan’s lawyers Salman Akram Raja.
During the hearing, Hamid Shah contended that 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.
The IHC chief justice said that 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 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.
The bench asked what will happen if the bench decides that the affidavit was false? Hamid Ali Shah responded that in such a case, Khan will be disqualified from the position of party head and he cannot become a member of the national assembly.
The court also enquired 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.
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 of their credentials and assets.
The petitioner urged the court to summon the former prime minister Imran Khan 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.”