SC disqualifies PTI MPA on fraud charges

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday disqualified Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) MPA from Shangla, Abdul Munim Khan, for using forged documents to hold his position as a government employee.

Khan, who is serving as an adviser to KP Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak and a special assistant to the chief minister for tourism, was disqualified as a result of a petition, filed by Jamiat Ulema Islam's (JUI) Sher Alam. He was disqualified over allegations that he resigned from his position of a government schoolteacher in Kohistan district only two days prior to the 2013 elections. In his petition, Alam had stated that the law did not allow a government servant to contest elections unless there was a two-year gap between the elections and their time of retirement. Following the SC's ruling, the ECP was ordered to denotify Khan immediately. The ECP in April 2017, had disqualified Khan on Alam's petition; however, the PTI MPA had taken a stay on the ECP's order from the Islamabad High Court (IHC)./Monitoring desk