Islamabad: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday reserved its decision regarding the disqualification of former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan in the Tosha Khana reference.
In a hearing earlier today, the PTI chairman’s counsel, Barrister Ali Zafar, admitted that Imran had sold at least four gifts from foreign dignitaries in 2018-19.
Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) lawyer Khalid Ishaq said that Imran had admitted receiving gifts in his reply to the ECP and had also admitted that the gifts were not disclosed in the statements but the claim. Were there not things of daily use? has been disclosed by someone.”
Responding to this, Advocate Zafar said that everyday items such as ties and prayer beads were not disclosed by me either.
Ishaq further argued that the unknown cuff link was valued at Rs 5.7 million, adding that the former prime minister in his reply had further argued that he had sold some gifts during the same financial year.
He maintained that even if Imran believed that “already sold assets need not be disclosed, [the ECP] could still disqualify them on that basis”.
In response to this, Sindh Nisar Durrani, a member of the commission, said that there is no disqualification if the assets are not disclosed by mistake.
During his arguments, the lawyer of Muslim League (N) referred to the Panama case and said that in its review, it was objected that Article 62 (1) (f) cannot be applied without a trial, on which the court said that Nawaz Sharif did not refuse to take fixed salary.
He further said that “the court had said that there is no need for a trial if the facts are not in dispute, while Imran Khan has been found guilty of lying on the affidavit”.
Advocate Ishaq filed a reply in the court stating that the ousted prime minister admitted to receiving and selling gifts but did not disclose the price at which he sold the items and on which date.
In his submissions, Imran’s counsel said that the Speaker was not competent to send a reference under Article 62 (1) (f), which requires a court declaration, noting that the Speaker did not have any judicial declaration. decided to.
The ECP has no power to determine the honesty of the members as the Supreme Court has held that the electoral body is not a court and if a member is convicted under Article 62 (1) (f), the Speaker is disqualified. Will send reference. Zafar added.
He said that no court decision has come against Imran Khan and he has not been punished.
Can’t ECP take automatic action on concealment of assets? Asked the commission member Punjab. To which, Zafar said the body was only “authorized to function within four months of elections”.
After that, the Chief Election Commissioner asked whether action cannot be taken after receiving concrete information after four months. The PTI chief’s counsel responded that while action can be taken, the ECP is not empowered to do so.
Meanwhile, the member of the body Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that it is also important to tell where the money given to Tosha Khana came from. On this, Zafar said that keeping track of the money “is the job of the Federal Board of Revenue [FBR], not the ECP”.
After that, the ECP reserved its decision regarding Imran Khan’s disqualification.
It should be noted that Imran Khan, while submitting a written reply in the previous hearing, had denied the allegations of concealment of Tosha Khana’s gifts in the reports.
The Tosha Khana case was brought before the election watchdog last year after the Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) accepted a petition on the matter and the Cabinet Division was directed to impeach the then Prime Minister Imran Khan. Information should be provided about gifts received from national personalities.
