Daily Times

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday fixed for hearing a petition seeking the disqualification of former prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan as a lawmaker for “concealing” his putative daughter in his nomination papers. The IHC’s Registrar Office also issued a list of cases slated for hearing on Dec 20 with the aforementioned plea a part of it. The IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq had on Dec 9 issued a pre-admission notice to the PTI chief and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the petition of citizen Sajid Mehmood, asking their counsels to help the court decide if the petition is maintainable. The petitioner is seeking the 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. Meanwhile, the IHC issued a written order with regard to the protective bail of Suleman Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The petitioner had appeared before the court of IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq on Tuesday, which granted him 14-day protective bail against surety bonds of Rs25,000 and stopped the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from arresting him. The court instructed him to appear before the relevant court in Lahore during the time in connection with the money laundering case.