Supreme Court asks for more evidence for renunciation of UK nationality from Rehman Malik

Supreme Court asks for more evidence for renunciation of UK nationality from Rehman Malik

Rehman Malik has recently been suspended as the MP by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The reason for the suspension of the Interior Minister of the country has been cited as the fact that Malik is a dual nationality holder. Other than being a Pakistani, the
Interior Minister of the country also holds the nationality of the United Kingdom.

In response to the decision taken by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, a lawyer speaking on behalf of the interior minister, Waheed Anjum, brought a total of 14 more names to the notice of the Supreme Court who also holds a double nationality. These include
Federal Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Deputy Chairman Senate Sabir Ali Baloch, PML-N leaders Khawaja Asif and Anusha Rehman.

The disqualification of the former Interior Minister Rehman Malik has been done according to Article 63(1)(c) of the Constitution, which says; “A person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Parliament, if
he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan, or acquires the citizenship of a foreign State.”

The ruling also disqualified Malik to act as federal minister but official sources said the prime minister of Pakistan Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani would name him as “adviser” to circumvent the court verdict. The three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar
Chaudhry noted that Malik failed to deny media reports or provide a credible evidence that he had renounced the nationality in 2008.

A curt official made the following statement in this regard, "The bench ordered the suspension of Rehman Malik’s membership of the Senate."

However, the court official also said on the basis of anonymity that Malik’s membership would be restored if he furnished adequate proof on June 13 that he had renounced his British citizenship before his election.

Members of the government have accused judges of overstepping their reach and of trying to bring down the Pakistan People’s Party run government before it becomes the first elected administration in Pakistan to complete an elected term. The accusations have
been vocal from the PPP as Yousuf Raza Gilani was also convicted for being in contempt of court recently.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=24768

Posted by Rabiya Maqbool on Jun 5 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry