Imran Khan fails to get relief from Pakistan court to contest Feb 8 general elections

Imran Khan/File Pic/AFP

Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday failed to get any relief from the court to contest next month's general elections.

The appellate tribunals of the Lahore High Court (LHC) upheld the returning officers' (ROs) decision to reject the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party's nomination papers for two National Assembly constituencies in the Punjab province of the country.

Pakistan will go to polls on February 8.

Justice Tariq Nadeem and Justice Abul Aziz of the tribunal announced the verdict on Lahore's NA-122 and Mianwali NA-89 seats, respectively.

In the 2018 polls, Khan had won both his hometown's seats.

"Both judges rejected the appeals of Khan against the Returning Officer's decision observing that he (Khan) was convicted in the Toshakhana (national treasury gifts) case. His conviction is suspended but he is not acquitted in the case thereby he is not eligible to contest the February 8 polls," a court official told PTI.

On December 30, the Returning Officer rejected Khan and several other party stalwarts on what the PTI called "flimsy grounds."

Khan, 71, had contended before the tribunals that the conviction of the Toshakhana case has no link with his disqualification under Article 62 (1f) of the Constitution as 'not honest and righteous', therefore, his nomination papers cannot be rejected.

Khan is likely to challenge the decision of the tribunal in the higher court.

PTI Chairman Advocate Gohar Khan said stopping Khan and other main PTI leaders from contesting polls is the worst kind of misuse of authority and abuse of process. "However, we will contest the elections come what may," he said.

Khan who has been in jail since August last year was arrested on Tuesday by Rawalpindi police in at least a dozen cases on the May 9 violence, including the attack on the military's General Headqua­rters (GHQ).

According to the PTI, the state is using every possible tactic to stop its candidates from contesting the polls across the country. Citing a case in point it said on Tuesday, that PTI candidate Abdullah Mumtaz Kahloon was allegedly 'abducted' by the agencies' personnel from Islamabad International Airport after he arrived from abroad.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued directions to the Federal Investigation Agency to trace him with the help of CCTV footage.

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