In his remarks, the former CJP made a reference to the controversy surrounding the SC verdict during his tenure.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified in 2017 under Article 62(1) (f), while Imran was not.
Imran Khan, Nisar added, was declared sadiq and ameen on three points. "Akram Sheikh had raised three points in writing when he sought the court's opinion in Imran Khan's case, and he was proven to be sadiq and ameen on those three points."
Sheikh – a senior SC lawyer – had pursued a case seeking disqualification of then premier Imran Khan.
"I did not declare Imran completely sadiq and ameen and it was politicised later on and the judgment is still available for anyone to verify," he maintained.
Read this too: Imran Khan’s Ouster: Why Did The Hybrid Regime Collapse?
In December 2017, a three-judge SC bench comprising CJP Nisar, Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Faisal Arab, found Imran Khan to be honest, but disqualified party's general secretary Jahangir Tareen.
In its crucial decision, the top court had accepted the PTI chief's stance on the purchase of the Bani Gala land and the setting up of his offshore company.
Imran was ousted from the Prime Minister's Office in April last year through a vote of no confidence that came in the wake of an intense drama played out in the corridors of power for weeks. By the time he left office, he had violated the Constitution, unsuccessfully attempted to fire the Army Chief and had initiated a divisive public campaign that continues a month after his exit from the PM House.
His ouster was not a simple change of a Prime Minister or a cabinet. In fact, contrary to the more cynical interpretations, it denoted the end of a hybrid regime that was painstakingly installed through a controversial, rigged election of 2018 – with overt interference and deliberation by the military-judicial establishment.