Supreme Court disqualifies dual nationality holder parliamentarians

Announcing its short order on the dual nationality case, the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday disqualified all parliamentarians holding dual nationalities.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry announced the verdict, saying that no parliamentarian could hold dual nationality under Article 63 (1) C of the Constitution.

Chief Justice remarked that no compromise could be made on dual nationals in parliament making laws relating to country’s security.

According to the short order, those legislators holding dual citizenships were not eligible to hold any public offices.

Moreover, the court said that legal proceedings would be initiated against parliamentarians who had committed perjury with respect to their oaths.

The bench directed the government to withdraw the amount spent on salaries and perks from disqualified parliamentarians and deposit it in the national exchequer.

In its short order, the court also directed the Senate and National Assembly Secretaries to submit a progress report on the matter in within a period of fifteen days.

Additionally, it directed all the parliamentarians to submit a new affidavit declaring that they do not hold dual citizenships. The court also declared Rehman Malik ineligible for misrepresentation of facts in his 2008 declaration.

It ruled that the interior minister was a British citizen until May 29, 2012, adding that he was not transparent with respect to his statements and was no longer ‘Sadiq’ and ‘Ameen’.

At the same time, the court ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to initiate legal proceedings against Rehman Malik.

The ruling asked the Senate’s chairman to send a reference against Malik, adding that the minister’s affidavit for the Senate’s election was not transparent.

Other parliamentarians who have been disqualified include Farahnaz Isphani‚ Muhammad Ikhlaq‚ Zahid Iqbal‚ Arshad Chohan‚ Ahmad Ali Shah‚ Asif Buttar‚ Nadeem Khadim‚ Nadia Gabool‚ Farhad Muhammad Khan and Jamil Malik.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=32952

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Sep 20 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. 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.