Did not declare Imran 'completely Sadiq and Ameen': Saqib Nisar.

ISLAMABAD -- Former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar on Monday said that he never declared Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf chief Imran Khan as "completely sadiq and ameen" (truthful and honest).

In a statement, the former CJ made a reference to a controversy surrounding rulings during his tenure on Article 62(1) (f) - a clause under which former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified in 2017 by the Supreme Court while Imran was not.

Imran was declared sadiq and ameen on three points, he clarified.

"Akram Sheikh had only raised three points in writing when he asked for the court to decide on Imran Khan's case," he maintained, "and on all three of those points, he had been proven sadiq and ameen".

It may be noted that Sheikh was the senior Supreme Court lawyer who had prosecuted former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf on treason charges and later pleaded a case seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Imran Khan,

"I did not declare Imran Khan completely sadiq and ameen which was then politicised," he added saying that his judgment was "still available for anyone to verify this".

It may be noted that a three-judge SC bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Faisal Arab, December 2017 had found Imran Khan, to be honest, but disqualified PTI's general secretary Jahangir Tareen. Abbasi had sought the disqualification of Imran and Tareen on various grounds.

In its verdict, the top court accepted Imran's stance on the purchase of Bani Gala land as well as the establishment of his offshore company.

The decision remains one of the several controversies that have surrounded the discrepancies found in exercising quo warranto jurisdiction by the Supreme Court and high courts against lawmakers to examine their...