The verdict is out! The apex court, on Friday, rejected petitions seeking the disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and general secretary Jahangir Tareen on different grounds.
A three-member SC bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Faisal Arab, announced the much-awaited verdicts.
CJP Mian Saqib Nisar’s family is also present in the courtroom.
The top leadership of PML-N and PTI along with the party workers were also present in the court amid heightened security.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi had filed constitutional petitions against the two PTI leaders for not disclosing their assets, owning offshore companies and running a foreign-aided party. The judgment was reserved last month.
After Khan filed the Panamagate petition, the PML-N, through Abbasi, moved two constitutional petitions in the apex court against the two PTI leaders. However, as the hearing of these petitions could not be conducted along with the Panamagate case, the matter was de-linked by the then CJP Anwar Zaheer Jamali and was later taken up for hearing in May by 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 remained confident during this time that the decision would come in their favour.
The PML-N was positive that Tareen would be disqualified on the non-disclosure of his London house in the nomination papers. One of the legal team members of the PML-N had maintained the trust deed submitted to the court by Tareen shows that he and his wife are the beneficial owners of the London flat.
However, PTI lawyer Chaudhry Faisal Hussain had said Tareen was not the owner of the London property; therefore he was not bound to disclose it and insisted that both the PTI leaders provided complete money trails and were not involved in any money laundering.
High-profile verdicts and Friday
Pakistan’s top court has a history of delivering important verdicts on Friday. In the first such verdict, on July 20, 2007, the court restored former CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
In the second, on July 31, 2009, the SC declared the November 3, 2007 emergency and Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) illegal. Then on July 28, 2017, the court disqualified former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Panamagate case. The SC even issued its verdict in the Orange Line Train project case last Friday.
