\u00a0The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), in a consensus verdict, has disqualified former Prime Minister Imran Khan and ruled that the PTI chairman is no more a member National Assembly.
\nThe ECP stated that Imran Khan submitted a false affidavit and found involved in corrupt practices.
\nRejecting the ruling, PTI leader Fawad Chauhdry said that it is an attack on 220 million Pakistanis.
\nThe verdict was announced amid tight security in the Red Zone where at least 1,100 police officials were deployed under the command of a senior superintendent of police to control the law and order situation in the area. The officer was assisted by five superintendents of police, six deputy superintendents of police.
\nThe law enforcement agency will also be assisted by the Frontier Constabulary and paramilitary force Punjab Rangers.
\nThe police officials have vowed that the PTI workers will not be allowed to come near the Election Commission, nor will any unauthorised person be allowed to enter its office.
\nAccording to a notice, the ECP has ordered all the relevant parties or their counsels to appear before the commission at its secretariat, situated at Constitution Avenue, G-5\/2, in Islamabad.
\nThe ECP had reserved its verdict in the Toshakhana case on September 19 after arguments were completed from both sides. A five-member bench of the ECP, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, heard the case.
\nToshakhana is a word of Persian origin that literally translates into “treasure house”.
\nImran Khan’s response During the last hearing of the case, which took place on September 19, Khan\u2019s counsel Ali Zafar admitted that his client had sold at least four presents he had received during 2018-19.
\n\u201cThe gifts were sold for Rs58 million and their receipts were enclosed with the income tax returns filed by my client,\u201d the lawyer apprised the ECP.
\nHe maintained that Khan has provided the gifts\u2019 details up to 2021 in the written reply submitted to the election body.
\n\u201cThe ECP conducts scrutiny if the body has doubts on any details but in this case, the election body did not raise any objection,\u201d argued the PTI lawyer.
\nIn 2019-20, Khan received gifts worth Rs1.7 million, the lawyer told the ECP.
\nAn ECP member asked about the source of income for procuring the gifts from the state treasury.
\nAt this, the lawyer said that he will not give the details to the ECP.
\nThe caseIn August 2022, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf sent a reference to the ECP under Articles 62A, 63A, and 223, seeking former prime minister Imran Khan\u2019s disqualification in the light of the Toshakhana scam.
\nThe disqualification reference was filed by Ali Gohar Khan, PML-N\u2019s Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha, and five others.
\nThe 28-page reference identified 52 gift items of Toshakhana received by the former prime minister Khan, violating the law and rules, taken away at nominal prices and most of the gifts were sold in the market, including some precious watches.
\nThe assessed value of the gifts has been put at Rs 142,042,100. The gifts were received between August 2018 and December 2021.
\nAccording to PML-N MNA Ranjha, Khan concealed information about the gift of watches by Saudi Arabia\u2019s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in his statement of assets submitted in 2018-2019.
\nThis withholding of information is tantamount to lying which, according to Ranjha, is a crime under Section 137.
\nHe thus said that Khan was no more Sadiq and Ameen and should be slapped with disqualification for life from contesting the election under Article 62(1)(f), Article 2, Article 3 of the Constitution.
\nArticle 62(1)(f) is the same legal instrument that disqualified former PM Nawaz Sharif from contesting elections and led to his removal from power, Ranjha said.
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