Pak court to hear Imran's disqualification case for 'concealing his daughter'
Dec 16, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], December 16 : The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will take up a petition on December 20, seeking the disqualification of former Prime Minister Imran Khan for "concealing" his alleged daughter's name in the nomination papers, reported Dawn.
The IHC's Registrar's Office also issued a list of cases slated for hearing on December 20, with the aforementioned plea also a part of it.
According to petitioner Sajid Mehmood, he is seeking Imran Khan's disqualification on the grounds that he concealed the existence of his alleged daughter, Tyrian White, in nomination papers.
He said one such information is about the children who are dependent on a candidate, and in this regard, Imran had wrongly mentioned two children -- "Qasim Khan and Sulaiman Khan" -- and had omitted the third.
Imran Khan is an MNA from the NA-95 Mianwali-I constituency. IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq had on December 9 issued a pre-admission notice to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the petition of Sajid Mehmood, a citizen, asking their counsels to help the court decide if the petition is maintainable, reported Dawn.
Mehmood contended in his plea 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 respondent no. 1 [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, hence he is not sagacious, righteous, honest and a man of good character in terms of Article 62 of the Constitution," read the petition, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com.
It continued, "Article 62 of the Constitution, as interpreted by various judgments of the superior courts, prescribes that a candidate shall only qualify to be elected as a member of the National Assembly if he is of good character and is not commonly known as one who violates Islamic Injunctions; and he has adequate knowledge of Islamic teachings and practices; obligatory duties prescribed by Islam as well as abstaining from major sins."
The petitioner urged the court to summon the former prime minister 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".
He has also urged the court to question Imran for "submitting a false declaration and affidavit and as to why he should be allowed to be a member of the parliament ... and may not be de-seated in all accumulated consequences for the violation of the Constitution and the law," reported Dawn.
Tyrian White is alleged to have been born out of wedlock, with Imran's former lover Sita White.
Imran has not acknowledged Tyrian White as his daughter. She lives in London.
In June, Imran Khan's ex-wife Jemima shared her photo on Twitter on the occasion of Father's Day.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief has only acknowledged Sulaiman, 26, and Qasim, 23, as his two sons. They were born to Imran from his marriage with Jemima Goldsmith in 1995.