Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: An election tribunal in Rawalpindi Wednesday disqualified former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi from contesting elections for concealing facts and withholding information from voters in his nomination forms submitted for NA-57 Murree, his home constituency.

Declaring him not ‘Sadiq’ and ‘Ameen’, the tribunal in its written verdict stated that Abbasi was “not a qualified person to be elected or chosen as a member of majlis-e-shoora (parliament) within the meaning of Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution of Pakistan.”

“Responding to the submissions of learned counsel for respondent that unless there is a declaration of any court of law under which a person can be declared as not qualified or not honest and Ameen, I declare that this tribunal constituted under the statutory provisions of a federal statue is a court of law and after declaring that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi being guilty of concealment of facts and withholding of the complete information from his voters is not an honest person and after such declaration, declare him as not a qualified person to be elected or chosen as a member of majlis-e-shoora (parliament) within the meaning of Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution of Pakistan,” Justice Ibadur Rehman Lodhi said in his judgement.

The tribunal’s decision can be challenged in the Lahore High Court (LHC) and the Supreme Court. Legal experts, however, believe that an appellant tribunal can only accept and reject nominations, adding that the tribunal had exceeded its jurisdiction while announcing such a judgment.

The tribunal had on Monday reserved its verdict on an appeal against the acceptance of Abbasi’s nomination papers by the returning officer (RO) and.

Announcing the decision, the tribunal head accepted all the objections of the petitioner. Petitioner Masood Ahmed Abbasi had challenged former prime minister’s candidature, accusing him of extorting money from the national exchequer. The petitioner had alleged that the candidate during his tenure as the prime minister had obtained money from the national kitty and given it to his son to perform Umrah.

Mehmood had stated that the former prime minister had supported a controversial interview of Nawaz Sharif, accusing him of purposefully damaging the national security. Among other accusations, the petitioner had alleged that Abbasi did not provide correct details of his assets. He further said that the former prime minister had not given any statement in support of Aafia Siddiqui – a Pakistani scientist imprisoned in the US on terrorism charges.

Abbasi’s counsel had informed the tribunal that his client had declared all of his assets in the documents submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan, adding that Abbasi had listed his shares in an airline in all the documents submitted to the ECP.

The appellant tribunal chaired by Justice Lodhi also rejected nomination papers of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Azhar Kiyani, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Fawad Chaudhry for NA-67 (Jhelum-II) and Sardar Ghulam Abbas for NA-64 (Chakwal-I).

Treatment meted out to Sharif family, PML(N)
constitutes pre-poll rigging: Marriyum —A5

Published in Daily Times, June 28^th 2018.