ISLAMABAD: Justice Aamer Farooq of the Islamabad High Court on Monday referred to the chief justice for constitution of a larger bench a petition filed by a politician of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) seeking disqualification of Foreign Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif.

Mr Asif had defeated PTI leader Usman Dar in the 2013 general elections by a margin of over 21,000 votes.

Mr Dar sought disqualification of Mr Asif under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, alleging that the incumbent foreign minister did not declare details of his employment contract with a UAE-based company and also concealed the salary details.

Justice Aamer Farooq heard the preliminary arguments by Mr Dar’s counsel, but did not pass an order and referred the petition to IHC Chief Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi for the formation of a three-member larger bench.

The petition claimed that Mr Asif had worked as a special adviser at Mech and Elec Co LLC (IMECL) since 2011.

It said that Mr Asif was a full-time employee of IMECL and as per the employment contract his salary was 50,000 UAE dirhams per month.

The petition relied upon the recent definition of the Supreme Court regarding receivable salary, on the basis of which it disqualified Nawaz Sharif as prime minister.

The petition said that Mr Asif was entitled to draw salary which was his receivable asset; however, since he had not declared it in the nomination form while contesting the election from NA-110 in 2013, he did not qualify to become a member of the National Assembly.

The petitioner claimed that he had recently learnt about Iqama (work permit) and salary details of Mr Asif; therefore, he has only now moved the IHC against the minister.

The petition pointed out that the Iqama was renewed on June 29, 2017, and it was valid till June 28, 2019, which established that in spite of being a federal minister, Mr Asif “intends to surreptitiously and secretly continue with his full-time employment with IMECL in violation of his oath of office under the Constitution of Pakistan”.

According to the petition, Mr Asif was not only a full-time employee of the IMECL in 2013 when he was holding the portfolio of the federal minister for water and power, but in the past while the PML-N was in the coalition government of the Pakistan Peoples Party, he was a federal minister till the time his party parted ways with the PPP. He concealed his job and right to receive salary while filing nomination papers for both the terms, it added.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2017