Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition to disqualify cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan from Parliament for not declaring his assets, Dawn reported. In July, the court had removed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from the office on a similar charge.
The Supreme Court, however, disqualified Jehangir Tareen – one of the top leaders of Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf – for not correctly reporting his assets to the income tax authorities, AP reported.
“No dishonesty or omission can be attributed to [Khan],” Chief Justice Saqib Nisar said during the ruling, according to Reuters. “This petition has no merits and is hereby dismissed.”
The ruling drew questions from Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, which had filed the case. Both Sharif and Khan’s parties will contest the general elections in the country in 2018 along with the Pakistan People’s Party and several other smaller parties.
The case was filed by Hanif Abbasi in November 2016, who accused Khan and Tareen of not declaring their assets to the Election Commission of Pakistan, and asked that they be disqualified for it.
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