Imran Khan 'can no longer retain PTI chief's post' after conviction

• Lawyer says Khan won't be able to maintain his position as PTI chief.
• Bhutta says Khan’s PTI chief status ended in light of past SC ruling.
• SC decision says convicted leader be disqualified as party head.

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan can no longer retain the post of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief after conviction in the Toshakhana case, said Zulfiqar Ahmad Bhutta, an eminent lawyer of Supreme Court (SC), The News reported.

The PTI chief was convicted and arrested in the Toshakhana case after a district and sessions court in Islamabad found him guilty of selling state gifts in violation of laws.

Khan is accused of misusing his position as prime minister to sell state gifts worth more than Rs140 million ($490,000) that he received from foreign dignitaries during visits abroad.

The senior lawyer said that the conviction has sealed Khan's fate as the party chairman, as per a judgment by the SC on a constitutional petition filed by PTI itself in the past.

“He will not be able to maintain his position as the chairman of his political party due to his involvement. Imran Khan’s status as PTI chairman has ended automatically in the light of the Supreme Court decision in PLD 366/2018 (Zulfiqar Ahmad Bhutta, PTI, Pakistan Peoples Party, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad, Jamaat-e-Islami) etc. vs. Federation of Pakistan case).

He said that he had filed a petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution in the Supreme Court after the conviction of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Panama Papers case, that a person who has been found guilty by a constitutional court and convicted, if he is the head of a political party, he should also be disqualified from being the head of the party, otherwise, despite being convicted, he will continue to play a role in politics and he will control his party.

Election tickets will be issued to the candidates only with the convicted leader's signatures and on the letter written by him to the election commission, the defecting members of his party can also be disqualified.

“After my application was filed, 15 parties including PTI chief Imran Khan and his right-hand Sheikh Rasheed, PPP and JI etc. also filed constitutional petitions based on the same request.

"Later, a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan issued a decision after hearing the Supreme Court PLD 366/2018 Zulfiqar Ahmad Bhutta et al that a person found guilty cannot be the head of any political party," he said.

The lawyer said that Khan and Rasheed used to come personally to the apex court because of their interest in pursuing the case.

A spokesman for PTI said the party would now be led by vice chairman and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.