Imran, Sherpao put on notice in election appeals

PESHAWAR: The Appellate Tribunal on Monday put on notice Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in an election appeal filed for declaring him disqualified for contesting from NA-35 Bannu constituency over keeping intimate relations with US national Sita White without entering into wedlock.

Justice Abdul Shakoor issued the notice to the PTI chief to clarify his position over the allegations levelled against him by Malik Naeemullah Khan Wazir, a candidate of the Justice and Democratic Party. He fixed the case for hearing today.

Naeemullah Wazir had filed the election appeal against the decision of returning officer to accept the PTI chief’s nomination papers.He alleged that Imran Khan fathered a daughter Tyrian Khan from Sita White without getting married. He claimed all the relevant record was available to prove the charge.

He claimed the DNA report about the case had also been published by the reputed news channels and newspapers.Naeemullah Wazir who belongs to former Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry’s Justice and Democratic Party, claimed that Imran Khan did not fulfill the criteria laid down under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution as he wasn’t ‘Sadiq’ (truthful) and ‘Ameen’ (trustworthy) and, therefore, his nomination papers should be rejected.

Meanwhile, the Appellate Tribunal headed by Justice Afsar Shah issued notice to Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Chairman Aftab Sherpao after the National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) claimed that he was a defaulter of Rs137,000 since 1994.

The tribunal directed him to produce the record of a telephone number which was in his personal use when he was chief minister in 1994 as dues of Rs137,000 had not been paid.The court issued notice on the appeal of NTC, which prayed that Aftab Sherpao should be disqualified from contesting election if he failed to clear the dues.

However, Aftab Sherpao’s legal counsel pointed out that the dues dated back to 1994 when he was the chief minister. He said it was an official phone number and the government had already paid the dues.

A representative of NTC submitted before the court that two phone numbers were in the use by Aftab Sherpao. He said one telephone number was official and the other one was private meant for his personal use.

The court put on notice the QWP chief so that the record could be checked if the phone number was official or private.However, the court stated that if the telephone number was not official and Aftab Sherpao had used it in his personal capacity then he had to pay the dues to the NTC.

The court adjourned hearing of the appeal until today.The tribunal allowed former Health Minister Shahram Tarakai to contest the election after he produced record that he had cleared Rs13,870 dues to NTC.The NTC had filed an appeal against the former minister in the Appellate Tribunal for non-payment of dues.

The tribunal also allowed PTI candidate Noor Alam Khan to contest the electio for National Assembly constituency NA-27 by dismissing the appeal of the NTC for non-payment of dues by him.The tribunal observed that a candidate who was a defaulter of less than Rs10,000 cannot be declared disqualified for the election. The NTC claimed that he was a defaulter of Rs9,509.

The tribunal also cleared former provincial minister Ziaullah Afridi, now affiliated to the PPP, and allowed him to contest the election. The NTC had declared him a defaulter of Rs29,000 when he was a minister in the PTI government.

Ziaullah Afridi produced a certificate from the Establishment Department which stated that it was an official phone number and not his personal number.The tribunal also dismissed the returning officer’s decision restraining PTI candidate Muhammad Ali Tarakai from contesting election from PK-46 Swabi.

His nomination papers were dismissed by the returning officer on the ground that his company was a defaulter of Rs2 million.The counsel for the appellant submitted that the candidate had sold the company before the period in which the dues were claimed.