The Islamabad High Court on Monday rejected a plea seeking Prime Minister Imran Khan’s disqualification from parliament over charges that he failed to provide accurate information in the nomination papers for the last general elections.
The petition was pending before the court without any hearing since August 16, 2018, after a two-member bench comprising then IHC judge Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and Justice Athar Minallah was dissolved as Justice Minallah had recused from hearing the case on personal reasons.
Abdul Wahab Baloch and Hafiz Ehtesham filed the petitions against Imran Khan, praying the court to bar the PTI chief from taking oath as prime minister since he failed to mention his ‘illegitimate daughter’ in the nomination papers.
Ehtesham argued in the court that Imran Khan was a public office holder and therefore his personal matters could not be considered beyond scrutiny. However, Justice Minallah asked the petitioner if he had read Article 63(1)(h) of the constitution, under which he had sought PM Khan’s disqualification.
Article 63(1)(h) stipulates that a person convicted of a crime of ‘moral turpitude’ and sentenced to jail for not less than two years can contest elections if five years have lapsed since his release.
“In Islam, it has been said that one should attempt to put a curtain on [other people’s] private matters,” the IHC judge added, admonishing the petitioner for interfering in what the judge believed to be a personal matter for the prime minister. He also warned the petitioner that if such requests were submitted in the future, the petitioner would be fined.
The prime minister’s counsel, Dr Babar Awan, was present in court on his behalf. However, he did not need to present his arguments as the court discarded the petition while hearing the petitioner.
Published in Daily Times, January 22nd 2019.
