- Justice Athar Minallah recuses himself from hearing case citing ties with former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as reason
ISLAMABAD: The bench formed for hearing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and prime-minister-in-waiting Imran Khan’s disqualification case dissolved once again on Thursday.
Justice Athar Minallah, part of the two-member divisional bench, recused himself from hearing the case citing conflict of interest as the reason. The bench was formed by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday.
The bench headed by Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui was to hear a petition filed against Imran Khan by Abdul Wahab Baloch, a member of Pakistan Justice and Democratic party (PJDP) founded by former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary.
Recusing himself, Justice Athar Minallah stated that he cannot hear a case filed by a member of Iftikhar’s party since he had ties with the former chief justice.
Baloch had filed an appeal in the high court on June 12 challenging Imran’s nomination papers for NA-243 (Karachi East-II) over the Sita White case. He had argued that Imran’s papers should be rejected under Article 62 of the constitution as he was neither “Sadiq” nor “Ameen”.
The petitioner had added that Imran had failed to declare his paternity of Tyrian White, hence, he should be disqualified.
The new bench was formed after the former bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb had recused itself from hearing the case following the petitioner’s objections.
After the latest dissolution, the matter of the bench has been referred to IHC chief justice once again.
