Imran says will keep Tareen ‘right next’ to him despite disqualification

A day after the Supreme Court disqualified former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secretary general Jahangir Tareen for being ‘dishonest’, party chief Imran Khan has said he will keep the PTI leader “right next to” him. “For me it doesn’t matter whether you Tareen@ hold a position in PTI or are in Parliament, you will always remain right next to me as we build Naya Pakistan Insha Allah,” Imran tweeted on Saturday. Earlier in the day, Tareen resigned as the party’s general secretary after a meeting with the PTI chairman. In his resignation letter, Tareen said it is inappropriate to hold public office after the apex court verdict. Despite earlier assurances of accepting the apex court’s verdict in letter and spirit, Imran said the former PTI secretary general was disqualified only on interpretation of trust deed and no financial wrongdoing was found against him. However, the apex court had termed Tareen ‘not an honest person’ and declared him ineligible for holding public office under Arti- cle 62(1)(f) of the Constitution. He was convicted for deliberately giving a false statement before the higher judiciary to conceal the ownership of the 5 million worth property in the UK. On the contrary, Imran was declared ‘honest’ for not concealing facts as the top court accepted his stance over the purchase of Bani Gala estate after the sale of his London flat.