IHC dismisses petition seeking Imran's disqualification.

ISLAMABAD -- The IslaAmabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking disqualification of former prime minister Imran Khan for not 'revealing' that he had allegedly fathered an 'illegitimate daughter'.

The court also issued detailed verdicts on petitions seeking disqualification of former president Asif Ali Zardari and former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry, observing that such matters were 'a waste of litigants' time and diminish public confidence in their elected representatives'.

In its observations on the petition against Imran Khan, an IHC division bench said the allegation that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman 'concealed his daughter' was a matter of 'private life'.

The bench comprised outgoing Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb. 'Moreover, the rights of a child, named in the petition, are also involved. Her rights may irretrievably be harmed if this court undertakes the probe,' observed the court.

'The likely consequences relating to the rights of the child are a sufficient ground for refusing to exercise the extraordinary jurisdiction vested in this court under Article 199 of the Constitution.

'We feel that it is not in public interest to entertain the petition in hand, let alone ordering investigations related to the private life of the respondent' [Imran Khan],' the bench opined.

It concluded that entertaining such petitions would lead to prejudicing the rights of litigants since the courts were already facing a backlog.

'Sadiq' and 'Ameen'

In his judgement on the petition seeking disqualification of Asif Zardari and Fawad Chaudhry...