Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Khan Tareen, who was disqualified on December 15 last year by the Supreme Court under Article 62 (1)(f) of the Constitution, said that the apex court's Friday ruling on lifetime disqualification is "not applicable" in his case. "I always believed 62 1(f) to be for life but it is not applicable in my case," tweeted Tareen following Friday verdict of the apex court. "Full money trail of tax paid income (was) provided (and) property (was) declared in assets of children and not mine on the advice of tax consultant. This was the only issue. My review is still pending and Insha Allah justice will prevail."
PTI leader Naeemul Haque echoed Tareen's remarks, differentiating his case from that of Sharif's. "As far as Sharif is concerned, we welcome this decision. He has looted and ruined this country," Haque said regarding Friday decision. "We respect the decision of the Supreme Court, but the cases of Nawaz Sharif and Jahangir Tareen are different because the latter was not in the government," he added.
"Tareen has continued to play an important part in the party and will continue to do so. He does not need to hold a position in order to contribute to the party," he added. Vice Chairman PTI Shah Mehmood Qureshi urged the PML-N to accept the Supreme Court verdict, saying that political parties should not "revolve around a personality but an ideology."
"I'm sure they (PML-N) must be very upset over this decision," he said. "But Nawaz Sharif is just a member of the party. They have already elected a new president, now they should move on and avoid taking any step that might endanger democracy." He advised Sharif to "change his attitude" or PML-N members will continue to defect the party. However, Qureshi did not comment on Tareen's disqualification.
A Supreme Court bench hearing Tareen's case had found that the then PTI secretary general was dishonest under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution and Section 99 of Representation of People Act (ROPA) on one count among the multiple charges brought against him. "The respondent [Tareen] is disqualified in terms of Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution read with Section 99(1)(f) of ROPA for the non-declaration of his property/asset, ie, 'Hyde House' in his nomination papers, and in making untrue statement before this court, that he has no beneficial interest in SVL [offshore company]; therefore, he should cease to hold the office as the member of the National Assembly with immediate effect," the judgement had stated.