Imran, Tareen D-Day today

PTI chief had said he will quit politics in case of disqualification

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court is all set to decide the political fate of the top leadership of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday (today), which, according to experts, will play an important role in shaping the future of the country’s politics.

The three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Faisal Arab, is going to announce the much-awaited verdicts on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi’s constitutional petitions, seeking disqualification of party chairman Imran Khan and general secretary Jahangir Tareen on different grounds.

The judgment, which was reserved on November 14, will be announced at 2pm.

Interestingly, the SC has been delivering landmark verdicts on Friday since the last one decade. In the first such verdict on July 20, 2007, the court had restored former CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. In the second on July 31, 2009, the SC declared November 3, 2007 emergency and PCO as illegal. Then on July 28, the court disqualified former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Panamagate case. Even the SC issued verdict in the Orange Line Train project case last Friday.

After Khan filed the Panamagate petition, the PML-N, through Abbasi, moved two constitutional petitions in the apex court against two PTI leaders. However, as the hearing of these petitions could not be conducted along with the Panamagate case, the matter was delinked by the then CJP Anwar Zaheer Jamali and it was later taken up for hearing in May by the incumbent CJP Nisar.



However, when the judgment in the Panamagate case was reserved, these petitions were listed before the three-judge bench, headed by the CJP.

Akram Sheikh and Azid Nafees argued on behalf of the petitioner while Naeem Bukhari appeared on behalf of Khan and Sikandar Bashir Mohmand on behalf of Tareen. The bench conducted more than 50 hearings in both the matters. The lawyers of both the political parties are confident that the decision will come in their favour.

Pakistan Bar Council member Azam Nazeer Tarar believes that it will be interesting to see how the bench will interpret Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution in this matter. Whether the bench will give its own interpretation on the same article or will it endorse the majority judgment in the Panamagate case, is yet to be seen.

He says the incumbent CJP has remained consistent in his earlier judgments that the disqualification of an MNA under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution is not lifelong. Even during the hearing, the CJP had questioned what is the meaning of honesty? Therefore, the definition of this word will be significant in this case and will have far-reaching impact on other cases as well.

The PML-N is very much confident that Tareen will be disqualified on the non-disclosure of his London house in the nomination papers. One of the legal team members of the PML-N said the trust deed submitted to the court by Tareen shows that he and his wife are the beneficial owners of the London flat.

Imran says he will quit politics if disqualified

However, PTI lawyer Chaudhry Faisal Hussain says that Tareen is not the owner of the London property; therefore he was not bound to disclose it. He insists that both the PTI leaders have provided complete money trails and they are not involved in money laundering.

Legal experts say that a few matters may be referred to different departments for further probe.

The SC may ask the Election Commission of Pakistan to probe the matter related to prohibited funds. Likewise, it may also ask for probe in the case pertaining to leased land of Tareen.