ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was informed on Tuesday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Jahangir Khan Tareen could not submit the lease record due to a shortage of time in relation to the disqualification case against him.
A three-member bench of the apex court ─ headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Atta Bandial and Justice Faisal Arab ─ was hearing a petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Hanif Abbasi which seeks the disqualification of Tareen and PTI Chairman Imran Khan over the alleged non-disclosure of assets, existence of offshore companies, as well as receiving foreign funding for PTI.
Tareen’s counsel, Sikandar Bashir Mohmand, informed the court that 18,500 acres were acquired by his client in 2010 on a lease. He said that Tareen is an agriculturist and used to grow sugar, mangos, and cotton on his farms and then set up a sugar mill in 2002.
Noticing the discrepancies in the lease agreements, the chief justice remarked the lease agreements are not verified and fail to mention where and how much the land in question is.
“You need to satisfy us that the person from whom land was taken on the lease was the owner of the land. We want to see the record of the revenue department first, as only that will tell the situation on the ground,” the chief justice observed.
Earlier, during the hearing on Oct 5, the Supreme Court observed discrepancies in the assets of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Jahangir Khan Tareen and sought the record of 18,564 acres of land.
Addressing the media afterwards, PTI Spokesman Fawad Chaudhry said that the cases against Tareen will go into the trash bin.
Meanwhile, Speaking to media outside the court, Privatisation Minister Daniyal Aziz has said that Jahangir Tareen has admitted his wrongdoings in front of the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.
Separately, State Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry said Tareen and Imran Khan are disqualified MNAs, what’s left is just a court stamp on their disqualification.
