Not a party in plea against lifetime disqualification: Tareen

Estranged PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen has said that he was not a party in a petition against the principle of lifelong disqualification of lawmakers, clarifying that he was not consulted over the matter.

“The Supreme Court Bar Association has filed the petition,” Tareen said while speaking to media on Saturday. He said that the lawyers hold the view that the lifetime disqualification of lawmakers was not based on justice.

However, he maintained that in this case the opportunity of right to appeal and produce witnesses was not provided. The provision doesn’t give the right to appeal against a court verdict, which negates the principle of even-handed justice, he added.

Supreme Court Bar Association President Ahsan Bhoon recently filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution, which relates to the disqualification of parliamentarians.

Article 62(1)(f), which sets the precondition for a member of parliament to be "sadiq and ameen" (honest and righteous), is the same provision under which former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by a five-judge SC bench on July 28, 2017, in the Panama Papers case. Similarly, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Tareen was disqualified by a separate bench of the apex court under the same provision.

Replying to a question, Jahangir Tareen said that the lawyers’ body did not consult with him over the matter.
“In the petition against lifetime disqualification of lawmakers, the SCBA president has stated that the top court couldn’t assume responsibilities of a trial court under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution.” DNA