By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Election Commission on Friday disqualified former prime minister Imran Khan from the parliament for five years on corrupt practices, plunging the country into fresh political turmoil.
The decision was taken unanimously by the five-member bench, headed by chief election commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja. However, the member from Punjab was not present for the announcement.
“Imran Khan has been disqualified on charges of being involved in corrupt practices,” Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar told a news conference.
Article 63 (1) (p) of the Constitution states that an individual is, for the time being, disqualified from being elected or chosen as a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) or of a provincial assembly under any law for the time being in force.
Under the law, a legislator found guilty of corruption or misuse of public office can be barred for up to five years.
The election commission was to give a detailed ruling later in the day saying how long the PTI chief would be barred for.
The commission has also decided to initiate criminal proceedings against Khan for misdeclaration and submitting a false statement in the Toshakhana case.
“Imran Khan not only lied to the election commission by not declaring his accurate assets and his sources of income, he also lied to the people of Pakistan,” Tarar said.
“I mean you imagine that a friend from a brotherly royal family gives you a gift and you sell it.”
Faisal Chaudhry, a lawyer in Khan’s team, said the election commission’s tribunal had no jurisdiction in the matter and that a challenge would be filed in a high court.
“It’s an illegal and unconstitutional order,” he said.
PTI leader Fawad Chaudhary asked party supporters to come out on the streets in protest. “We have no faith in ECP… the verdict will be challenged in the Supreme Court,” Chaudhary told the media outside the commission.
He called the ECP’s ruling a “slap on the face of 220 million people”. “Just anyone cannot disqualify Imran Khan. Only the public can do that,” the PTI leader said. “People disapprove of this decision.”
PTI supporters gathered in different cities, blocking roads and streets after the verdict.
They were seen chanting slogans against the government and authorities at the Election Commission. Hundreds of others blocked a key road in the northwestern city of Peshawar, disrupting traffic. Khan’s supporters were also holding small rallies in major cities in the country.
A few supporters briefly clashed with police in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. However, the demonstrators dispersed when police swung batons and fired tear gas shells, according to local media reports.
The complaint to the election commission was first brought when Khan was still in office by the Pakistan Democratic Movement, a coalition whose members now make up the government.
At the time Khan said he had not made public some gifts on national security grounds, but in a written submission admitted buying items worth nearly Rs22 million rupees, and later selling them for more than twice that amount.
Khan, who came to power in 2018, apparently received expensive gifts from rich Arab rulers during official visits, which were deposited in the Toshakhana. Later he bought the same at a discounted price as per the relevant laws and sold the same at hefty profits.
Though morally apprehensive for rulers like Khan, who always takes a high moral ground and leaves no occasion to criticize his opponents as “corrupt”, the purchase and sale were legally allowed. The gifts, among others, included a Graff wristwatch, a pair of cufflinks, an expensive pen, a ring, and four Rolex watches.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari reacted on Twitter: “He who would spread lies about alleged corruption of his political opponents has been caught red-handed.”
However, his opponents say Khan failed to show the sales in the income tax returns, making him liable.
Ahead of the commission verdict, the government deployed extra police force along with paramilitary rangers around the election commission office in the capital, Islamabad. Over 1,100 police and paramilitary troops were deployed in the Red Zone.
Established in 1974, the Toshakhana is a department under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division and stores precious gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials by heads of other governments and states and foreign dignitaries.
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