Lahore HC to hear disqualification petition against Imran Khan next week

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday set the disqualification petition against Prime Minister Imran Khan for hearing next week.

The petition had been filed by the Lawyers Foundation for Justice in November 2018, Dawn reports.

LHC judge Justice Shahid Waheed heard a civil miscellaneous petition today requesting an early hearing of the disqualification petition against Khan.

The petition had asserted that the matter was an important one and should be set for early hearing. It said that Khan had instigated people to take part in civil disobedience during the 2014 sit-in over claims of systematic election-rigging by the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) in the 2013 general election.

He had also persuaded people not to pay their taxes or send money from abroad, the petition stated.

The petition stated that the now-prime minister had taken steps against the country's integrity and had tried to ruin Pakistan's political system.

At the same time, the petition argued that Khan is ineligible to be a member of Parliament as under Article 62 (1)(f) of the Constitution, and requested that action be taken against him under Section 124A (sedition) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

In December 2017, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had rejected PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi's petition for Khan's disqualification and had disqualified Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Tareen for being "dishonest" in misdeclaration of assets case.