Supreme Court suspends Rehman Malik’s Senate membership

Giving another shock to the government, the Supreme Court of Pakistan temporarily suspended Senate membership of Interior Minister Rehman Malik over the issue of dual nationality.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry while hearing the dual nationality case issued this ruling after Rehman Malik failed to submit the documents, proving that he had quitted his British nationality.

Despite repeated court’s orders, the minister didn’t produce the documents.

Syed Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi filed the petition to the apex court, seeking a declaration against parliamentarians and members of different provincial assemblies holding dual nationalities.

The bench on Monday took decision after the minister failed to act accordingly despite the court gave him an hour to submit the required documents.

According to a legal expert, Malik’s membership would be restored if he furnished adequate proof at the next hearing that he had renounced his British citizenship before his election.

In the meantime, Advocate Waheed Anjum requested the court to permit him to become a party in the dual-nationality case, submitting a list of 14 parliamentarians who holds dual nationalities.

The bench ordered the registrar’s office to admit the request that alleged that 14 more members of the national and provincial assemblies hold dual nationalities.

According to the petition, Finance Minister Senator Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Deputy Chairman Senate Sabir Baloch, MNAs Amna Buttar, Anushay Rehman, Khwaja Asif, Farhat Muhammed Khan, hold dual nationalities.

In the provincial assemblies, MPAs Nadeem Khan, Waseem Qadir, Ashraf Chohan, and Muhammed Ikhlaque of the Punjab Assembly hold dual nationalities.

In Sindh, MPAs Ahmed Ali Shah, Nadia Gabol, and Tariq Allana, are said to be holding dual nationalities.

Last month, the Supreme Court had suspended parliamentary membership of MNA Farahnaz Isphanai on her admission that she holds US citizenship as well.

Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh, however, denied the allegations saying he had only one nationality. He observed, “I always had one nationality, will have one nationality and will die with that nationality which is Pakistani. I never sought any other nationality and will never seek it”.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jun 5 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.