Tribunal judge launched personal attacks, will pay him back in the same coin: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: Former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Wednesday said that his disqualification by an election tribunal is a case of judicial overreach and he will challenge the verdict in a higher court, ARY News reported.

“An election appellate tribunal holds no right to disqualify someone under Article 62/63 (of Constitution of Pakistan), only a court of law can do that after following the due process,” said Khaqan Abbasi adding that he did not even concealed any of his assets.

The former PM maintained that he was disqualified for not disclosing the current market value of his property despite the fact that candidates are only bound to declare the cost of their assets and not the current market value.

Abbasi claimed that the judge also launched personal attacks against him and vowed to pay him back in the same coin.

“He has written a couplet in the written verdict and then he has launched personal attacks… I too will publicly launch a personal attack against this person (tribunal judge,” said Abbasi.

Declaring its order in an appeal filed against Abbasi’s nomination papers from NA-57 Murree, an election tribunal today noted that Abbasi was “guilty of concealment of facts and withholding of complete information from his voters”.

Declaring that he is not ‘Sadiq’ and ‘Ameen’, the tribunal stated that Abbasi was “not a qualified person to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (parliament) within the meaning of Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution of Pakistan”.