Imran Khan disqualified from Parliament: what just happened in Pakistan?

It is! Consider these circumstances.

Imran had been dragged from power kicking and screaming after he was defeated in a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly on April 10, and he has kept up a relentless barrage of attacks on the coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ever since.

On October 16, byelections were held for eight seats in the National Assembly and three seats in the Punjab provincial assembly, in which Imran’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won a landslide victory — picking up six National Assembly and two Punjab assembly seats.

The results were a clear indication that Imran’s popular support base remains extremely strong, and lent weight to his allegations that the Shehbaz Sharif government was illegitimate and “imported”, meaning that it was in power only because the United States had wanted him (Imran) removed.

Imran has been demanding immediate elections. His popularity is intact, as the byelection results have shown. The Shehbaz government has its back to the wall. And Imran is now thrown out of the National Assembly. You get the picture?

OK, but what did Imran do to be de-seated from Parliament?

In short, the ECP has found Imran guilty of making money by selling the various gifts that he received from heads of state or other dignitaries when he was Prime Minister. It’s been a big story in Pakistan, and is known as the “Toshakhana” scandal.

Maryam Nawaz, vice-president of the PML (Nawaz), the major partner in the ruling coalition, on Friday described Imran as “Pakistan’s first certified liar and certified thief disqualified with irrefutable evidence of theft.”

And exactly what is the Toshakhana, and what is the scandal?

The Toshakhana is a department that was set up in 1974, with the purpose of keeping in safe custody all the valuable and expensive gifts that were given to leaders of the country and other high Pakistani officials, MPs, etc., by the heads of state or government of other countries and other foreign dignitaries.

All high Pakistani officials to whom the Toshakhana rules apply are expected to report all the gifts etc., that they receive. However, Imran’s government, which came to power in 2018, did not follow these rules. It argued that doing so would jeopardise Pakistan’s relationships with other countries.

In August, a few months after Imran was removed from power, some MPs from the ruling alliance filed a reference with the National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf alleging that Imran had failed to share the details of the Toshakhana gifts, as well as the details of the money that had been made by selling those gifts. The Speaker forwarded this reference to Pakistan’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja.

On September 8, Imran replied to a notice by the ECP, admitting that he had sold four of the gifts that he had received while he was Prime Minister. These gifts, some of which were made up of multiple items, included Graff and Rolex wristwatches, a pair of cufflinks, an expensive pen and a ring.

Imran told the ECP that he had bought these gifts from the state Treasury for Rs 21.56 million, and had sold them for about Rs 58 million.

So what did the ECP say?

The Pakistani daily Dawn, quoting from parts of the ECP ruling that it said it had access to, reported that the Commission had found that Imran had “intentionally and deliberately” violated provisions of the Elections Act, 2017, and had made “false statement and incorrect declaration before the Commission in the statement of assets and liabilities filed by him for the year 2020-21”.

Therefore, the ruling said, Imran had been disqualified under Article 63(1)(p) of the Constitution read with sections of the Elections Act. Article 63 (1)(p) of the Pakistani Constitution states that an individual is “for the time being, disqualified from being elected or chosen as a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (parliament) or of a provincial assembly under any law for the time being in force”.

And what happens now as a result?

At the moment it is mostly anger and confusion from both sides in Pakistan. The full text of the verdict is awaited, Pakistani media were reporting on Friday afternoon. Spokespersons and lawyers for Imran’s party were saying that they would move the High Court in Islamabad as soon as the full verdict was available.

However, Imran being disqualified means a bypoll will be held to fill his seat. It was widely expected that the disqualification would last until the end of the National Assembly’s term.