Islamabad: The Islamabad HC 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 case against Imran will be heard in December. This follows his contested ban from running for office by the nation's electoral body in October for allegedly hiding information about his holdings and obligations.
The HC 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 dependents in sons Sulaiman and Qasim. According to Article 62 of the Pakistani Constitution, "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." The plea requests that the ex-PM be summoned to investigate the reasons for the violation.
“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 is living 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 MP to be honest and righteous. It is the same provision under which former PM Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by a five-judge Supreme Court bench on July 28, 2017, in the Panama Papers case.