ISLAMABAD - In a ‘tit-for-tat’ manner, a day after Dr Arsalan Iftikhar filed an application in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Wednesday approached the commission, seeking nomination papers of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to file a reference of disqualification against him.
PTI MNAs Murad Saeed and Ali Muhammad Khan filed an application with the ECP to get certified copies of Nawaz Sharif’s nomination papers. The applicants said they intended to file a reference with the National Assembly speaker for Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification as the premier did not fulfil the conditions of articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.
A senior PTI leader told The Nation that it was crystal clear that the ruling PML-N was behind Dr Arsalan Iftikhar, the son of former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who filed an application with the ECP, seeking nomination papers of Imran Khan. He said PML-N had been given the answer in the same manner more politically.
“We, MNAs Ali Muhammad Khan and Murad Saeed, intend to challenge the legitimacy of Nawaz Sharif as a National Assembly member on the grounds that he does not fulfil the conditions laid down in articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” says the application.
Both the MNAs met ECP Secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan and dropped the application in his office. The applicants sought from the commission certified copies of the nomination papers of Nawaz Sharif, an MNA from NA-120, Lahore, saying he had not provided the Election Commission with the correct information in his nomination papers for candidacy from NA-120.
“We require a copy of Nawaz Sharif’s nomination papers to move for his disqualification through proper channel on the grounds listed below,” the applicants said.
The application says that as per Lahore High Court judgment, PLD 1993, Lah 905, Petition No 7459/93, Nawaz Sharif was convicted under civil and criminal liability, which he concealed in his nomination papers. “According to the book “Upset 2008”, written by Mehmud Sham, Nawaz Sharif had lied about his 10-year agreement made with the then president Pervez Musharraf to stay in exile out of Pakistan.
It said the PM was accused of taking political bribes for elections in the Asghar Khan case –a fact that he concealed in his nomination papers.
The applicants contended that the PM concealed in the nomination papers his involvement in the Mehran Bank scandal, which directly disqualified him under articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.
It further says that according to media reports, NAB had declared Nawaz Sharif a defaulter and liable to a criminal charge.
“Based upon the above reasons, as citizens of Pakistan and MNAs, we wish to exercise our right to have the information given in the nomination papers of Nawaz Sharif, so we should be provided with certified copies of his papers from NA-120, Lahore,” the PTI MNAs said.
Dr Arsalan Iftikhar, the son of former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, on Monday filed an application with ECP, seeking nomination papers of PTI chief Imran Khan to file a reference against him with the NA speaker.
He had said that the PTI chief did not fulfil qualifications of a truthful and righteous person as described in articles 62 and 63. According to him, he had not mentioned the name of his third kid in his nomination papers.