A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar, will take up next week a petition seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
According to the cause-list issued by the apex court, the petition has been fixed before the bench comprising Nisar, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, for Monday (Sept 24).
The petition was filed by Barrister Danyal Chaudhry in May last year soon after the apex court had constituted a six-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe allegations of corruption against then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and has been pending before court since then.
The petitioner was seeking a special oath to the JIT members for protecting them from getting influenced by the speeches of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Khan.
The petition filed through Advocate Quasain Faisal Mufti had requested that the apex court restrain Khan from activities which could influence JIT members because his speeches and press releases could prejudice the investigation team.
It also feared that if Khan was not stopped from making political statements, it might allegedly result in derailment of democracy – a process running successfully and smoothly for a decade.
The petition had also requested that the Supreme Court order the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) not to allow broadcast by the electronic media of any material which jeopardised the sovereignty, integrity and solidarity of Pakistan, and the well-being and prosperity of the people of Pakistan.
The petitioner was of the opinion that people could not afford any turmoil or turbulence at this juncture when the country and its people are trying to bridge the trust and peace deficit, which over the years developed due to acts terrorism, which had lessened following efforts by the country’s armed forces, but not yet completely overcome.
The petition claimed that international forces had been tasked with of sabotaging the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), exploiting certain indigenous political forces who, through their innocence, acted as catalysts to sabotage the project.
The petition recalled that due to the PTI’s 2014 sit-in in Islamabad, the Chinese president had deferred his visit to Pakistan, resulting in jeopardising different projects pertaining to the CPEC because of political uncertainty, which negatively impacted the country’s financial markets.
The foreign exchange reserves had also declined considerably as a result, it argued.
The petition alleged that Imran Khan was making speeches to undermine the Panama Papers case judgment and further influence the expected outcome of the JIT investigation.
In some of his statements, it said, Khan made allegations against different institutions including, but not limited to, those given the responsibility to investigate the allegations as ordered by the Supreme Court.
The petition alleged that Khan’s conduct amounted to destabilising the federal government, and hampered the functioning of the federal government, weakening its writ and adversely affecting confidence of the government in making decisions in respect of national and international affairs.
Besides other things, the petition had sought Khan’s disqualification for not disclosing his alleged love child Teriyan White in his nomination papers for the general elections.


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