ISLAMABAD: In what appears to be a tit-for-tat move, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Wednesday he would go to a court to seek disqualification of PTI chairman Imran Khan as a member of parliament and a national leader on “moral grounds”.

JUI-F’s spokesman Jan Achakzai told Dawn that the Maulana had decided to take Imran Khan to the court for his questionable “moral character” and would prove that he was not eligible to become a parliamentarian and a national leader.

The move came almost a week after the PTI chairman had threatened to file a suit against Maulana Fazl for calling him a Jewish agent. Mr Khan had called the Maulana a US agent and said he would have to prove the allegation in the court.

The JUI-F chief said he stood by his statement and was ready to face Mr Khan in any court. “We will plead before the court that he (Imran Khan) is not fit to become a national leader and parliamentarian because of poor moral standard,” the JUI-F spokesman quoted the Maulana as saying.

He said it was the time the nation took seriously the issue of character of national leaders.

He said that despite being a liberal society the West had recognised this principle decades ago and more than 10 ministers in the UK had to resign on morality grounds over the past 20 years. Similarly, he said, two former presidential hopefuls in the US had to quit the presidential race because of moral impropriety.

When asked on what charges the JUI-F chief would take Mr Khan to the court, the spokesman cited the decade-old Sita White issue and alleged that after a Los Angeles court’s decision Mr Khan was still paying the expenses of his “illegitimate daughter”.