Pakistan’s electoral body bans Imran Khan from contesting polls for five years

Shah Mahmood Qureshi sentenced to 10 years in prison for leaking state secrets

Islamabad:

Pakistan’s Election Commission disqualifies Shah Mahmood Qureshi, jailed former prime minister’s close aide Imran KhanThe former foreign minister ran in the election five years after being sentenced to 10 years each in prison for leaking state secrets.

Qureshi, 67, was disqualified five days before the February 8 general election in which Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party is still contesting despite a state crackdown and without its famous electoral symbol, the bat.

Days earlier, a special court set up under the Official Secrets Act sentenced Qureshi to 10 years in prison in the high-profile password case. Citing the January 30, 2024 judgment of the special court, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that according to the constitution and law, any convicted individual cannot participate in the elections, The Tribune reported.

“Consequently, Mr. Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi is disqualified under Section 63(1)(h) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as well as Section 232 of the Elections Act, 2017. Accordingly, Mr. Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi is disqualified from contesting the 2024 General Elections and for a period of five years for any subsequent elections,” the ECP said on Saturday.

The code case involves a piece of paper purported to be a diplomatic cable – a code – that Khan brandished at a public rally on March 27, 2022, and named the United States, claiming it was “evidence” to overthrow him The government’s “international conspiracy”

The FBI filed an indictment against Khan, 71, and Qureshi on August 15 last year, accusing the two of violating confidentiality laws in their handling of a March 2022 cable sent by the Pakistani Embassy in Washington.

Khan was also banned from politics for five years previously.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)