Pakistan court summons Imran Khan in US national case

A court in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday summoned Prime Minister Imran Khan to appear before it on December 13 in a case filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf chief’s rival candidate in the July 25 general elections over his alleged relation with a US national, Sita White.

The division bench of the Peshawar High Court comprising Justices Ikramullah Khan and Ishtiaq Ibrahim issued the notices to Khan on a writ petition filed by Inamullah Khan, his rival candidate in July 25 elections from Bannu constituency.

The petitioner said that Khan has a daughter, Tyrian White, from Sita White which he has not mentioned in his nomination papers. Therefore, the petitioner added, Khan does not fulfil the criteria under Article 62 and 63 of the constitution.

He claimed a Los Angeles court has ruled that cricketer-turned-politician Khan was the legal father of the four-year-old southern California girl. “Imran Khan is the father of the child,” superior court commissioner Anthony Jones said in a brief hearing in the US court, according to the petitioner.

During the election, the returning officer of Bannu had accepted Khan’s nomination papers by rejecting the objection of Inamullah Khan of the Justice Democratic Party. The petitioner then moved Peshawar high court’s Bannu bench.

(The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)

First Published: Nov 07, 2018 17:34 IST