–PTI chief says ‘drug dealer’ filed disqualification petition against him
–Regrets Tareen’s disqualification on ‘technical issue’, says PTI will file review petition
KARACHI: Soon after the Supreme Court (SC) gave him a clean chit in a disqualification petition, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan claimed a “drug dealer” filed a petition against him which was rejected by the country’s top court on Friday.
“It has been proved today that I was a cricketer who just owned a flat [in London] and after my career I had brought all my earned money back to Pakistan,” Imran told journalists in Karachi.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi had filed constitutional petitions against Imran Khan and his party’s secretary general Jahangir Tareen for not disclosing their assets, owning offshore companies and running a foreign-aided party.
Without naming Abbasi, Imran said: “The petition to disqualify me was filed by a drug dealer,”adding, “Thanks to God that all money trail was found and presented in the court.”
The PTI chairman went on to say that he submitted some seven documents to prove that where his money came from but his rivals couldn’t even produce a single document.
“More than Rs300 billion was taken to offshore companies. There is not a single document on it,” he said, adding, “There was just one document which was a Qatari prince letter that everyone knows was a fraud.”
The PTI leader also said that Tareen had been disqualified over a technical issue for which his party will go for a review petition.
“Our [PTI] case should not be compared with their [PML-N] cases since they could not produce any document to prove it was their assets,” Imran said.
“They should not be compared with people who pay their taxes and earn halal income,” he added.
Earlier in the day, the top court rejected the petition seeking disqualification of the PTI chairman. However, the court disqualified Tareen under Article 62 (1) (f) of the constitution.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Faisal Arab, announced the much-awaited verdicts.