Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday disqualified Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA from PK-88 Shangla, Abdul Munim Khan, for being government employee until two days prior to contesting the 2013 general election.

A three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, while setting aside his election as MPA, directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to immediately de-notify him. Abdul Munim Khan is serving as adviser to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and also a special assistant to him on tourism. He was disqualified over the allegations that he resigned from his position as a government school teacher in the Kohistan district only two days prior to contesting election in 2013. The petition seeking his disqualification was filed by his rival candidate from the Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Sher Alam, with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). In April 2017, the ECP had disqualified Munim on Sher Alam’s petition and directed re-election in the constituency. However, Munim had challenged his disqualification in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which set aside the ECP’s decision on technical grounds. The IHC had held that neither the ineligibility could be directly challenged before the ECP nor ECP was competent to issue an order on the writ of quo-warranto. Sher Alam then moved the Supreme Court and stated that according to the law, a government servant could not contest elections unless there was a two-year interval between the time he retired and contested the election.

The matter of Munim being a government school teacher was unearthed when KP accountant general issued a number to him for withdrawing salary as adviser to the chief minister.

It was found that Munim Alam had already been withdrawing salary from the government kitty.

Munim, however, denied that he was a government school teacher and contended that his national identity card was misused by someone.

However, the opponent candidate contended that he was a ‘ghost’ teacher at a government school.

Published in Daily Times, February 24^th 2018.