Imran can no longer remain PTI chief: lawyer

ISLAMABAD: Zulfiqar Ahmad Bhutta, the eminent lawyer of the Supreme Court, has said that the fate of Imran Khan as party chairman has been sealed after the sentence in the Toshakhana corruption case.

In his reaction, he said the judgment had been made by the Supreme Court on a constitutional petition filed by his own party in the past. “He will not be able to maintain his position as the chairman of his political party due to his involvement. Imran Khan’s status as PTI chairman has ended automatically in the light of the Supreme Court decision in PLD 366/2018 (Zulfiqar Ahmad Bhutta, PTI, PPP, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad, Jamaat-e-Islami) etc. vs. Federation of Pakistan case).

He said that he had filed a petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution in the Supreme Court after the conviction of former Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif in the Panama Papers Case, that a person who has been found guilty by a constitutional court and convicted, if he is the head of a political party, he should also be disqualified from being the head of the party, otherwise, despite being convicted, he will continue to play a role in politics and he will control his party. Election tickets will be issued to the candidates only with his signatures and on the letter written by him to the Election Commission, the defecting members of his party can also be disqualified.

“After my application was filed, 15 parties including PTI chief Imran Khan and his right-hand man Sheikh Rasheed, PPP and Jamaat-e-Islami etc. also filed constitutional petitions based on the same request. Later, a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan issued a decision after hearing the Supreme Court PLD 366/2018 Zulfiqar Ahmad Bhutta et al that a person found guilty cannot be the head of any political party. “Imran Khan and Sheikh Rasheed used to come personally to the Supreme Court because of their interest in pursuing the case,” he added.