ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was on Thursday ruled that lawmakers holding dual nationalities were not eligible to hold any public officers and declared all such lawmakers as disqualified, News reported.
The 11 disqualified lawmakers include Zahid Iqbal, Farahnaz Ispahani, Muhammad Ikhlaq, Ashraf Chauhan, Nadia Gabol, Amina Buttar, Zaheer Awan, Waseem Qadir, Farhat Muhammad Khan, Chaudhry Nadeem Khadim and Ahmed Ali Shah.Five among the disqualified lawmakers were from the Punjab Assembly and two from the Sindh Assembly.The bench said the lawmakers were being disqualified under Article 63(1)(c) of the Constitution.
The court moreover said that legal proceedings would be initiated against lawmakers who had committed perjury with respect to their oaths.The court directed the government to withdraw the amount spent on salaries and perks from disqualified lawmakers and deposit it in the national treasury.The court directed the government to withdraw the amount spent on salaries and perks from disqualified lawmakers and deposit it in the national treasury.
It also directed the Senate and National Assembly secretaries to submit a progress report on the matter in two weeks’ time.Ruling that Interior Minister Rehman Malik was a British citizen until May 29, 2012, the verdict stated that the minister was not transparent with respect to his statements and was no longer ‘sadiq’ and ‘ameen’.
The bench also directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to initiate legal proceedings against Malik.The Senate’s chairman should send a reference against Malik, the court ruled, adding that, the minister’s affidavit for the Senate’s election was not transparent. – Dawn
