ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz stalwart Khawaja Asif must have been the happiest person among the country’s politicians on Friday after the Supreme Court resurrected his political career by overturning the disqualification for life handed down by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) a month ago when he was serving as the country’s foreign minister.

The Supreme Court set aside the April 26 IHC order disqualifying Mr Asif under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution for not disclosing salary drawn from a United Arab Emirates-based firm.

“For reasons to be recorded later, the petition is converted into appeal and allows the same,” pronounced Justice Umar Ata Bandial after the SC bench assembled at 11.05am following an hour-long hearing early morning when senior lawyer Muneer A. Malik, representing Mr Asif, encapsulated his arguments by saying that his client did not fall into any of the categories that established that he was a dishonest man.

Lawyer says former foreign minister will contest upcoming polls; petitioner belonging to PTI vows to face rival in political arena of Sialkot

The three-judge bench, also consisting of Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, had taken up the petition of Mr Asif in which he had taken the plea that the IHC by disqualifying him had taken an exception against an elected parliamentarian, especially when no allegation of corruption, fraud, embezzlement, accumulation of wealth, money laundering, misappropriation of public property or public funds or abuse of public authority for private gain was ever levelled against him.

“He (Khawaja Asif) will participate in the coming general elections,” commented Mr Malik while talking to Dawn after announcement of the judgement. According to the election schedule issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the last date of filing nomination papers is June 6.

Soon after the announcement of the order, Mr Asif’s political opponent and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Muhammad Usman Dar felicitated the former on his success and said that he would decide about moving a review petition against the SC decision after consulting his legal team.

Talking to the media outside the Supreme Court building, Mr Dar said that he was happy that he would now face Asif in the election arena of Sialkot before the people’s court.

“I will throw a challenge to the dons and mafias of Sialkot on polling day,” said the PTI leader, adding that Friday’s decision had provided an opportunity to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter for soul-searching. He said that the judgement had proved that it was time that both shunned what he called ridiculing the institution of the judiciary in a contemptuous manner.

“Enough is enough. PML-N propaganda against the judiciary should end now after the verdict,” said Mr Dar.

Senior lawyer Chaudhry Faisal Hussain, who was watching the proceedings carefully, commented that after Friday’s verdict he saw a ray of hope for PTI leader Jahangir Tareen, whose review petition against his disqualification is pending before the Supreme Court.

The reason for the hope, he said, was that the apex court while deciding Mr Asif’s case had come up with a new view by apparently holding that the declaration about one’s assets before the tax authorities was sufficient for the purpose of contesting elections and non-declaration of the same before the ECP could not be construed as concealment of assets.

Pakistan Bar Council member Raheel Kamran Sheikh observed that given that the apex court had already construed Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution to attract disqualification for life, which was manifestly a harsh and stringent interpretation, caution ought to be exercised by the judiciary to avoid the blame for indulging in “political cleansing”.

In his opinion, he said, the benefit of the doubt should be extended wherever possible, which the apex courts now seemed to have done in Khawaja Asif’s case. Therefore, such decisions were welcome, he observed.

Earlier while arguing before the SC bench, Mr Malik said that the requirement in the nomination papers was different from annual returns of tax, adding that the declaration under section 42A of the Representation of Peoples Act (RoPA), which dealt with the statement of assets and liabilities, was limited and the provision of law did not require disclosure of one’s salary.

The lawyer asked whether the court could let the sword of Damocles hang over the heads of parliamentarians by keeping such questions open. He said that the assets of his client were abroad but he brought it back to Pakistan, adding that he would answer if the ECP asked Mr Asif how his assets had increased.

“If there is accumulation of assets, it is for the petitioner to provide convincing evidence in a writ of quo warranto,” argued the counsel, adding that his client was spending the salary he received from the foreign firm and even when he got bonuses, he spent it entirely for the marriage of his son and treatment of one of his family members who was suffering from cancer.

Mr Malik argued that not disclosing salary was not a violation of Section 42A of RoPA.

He explained that the firm to which Mr Asif was providing legal advice from time to time was an electrical and mechanical engineering company which had nothing to do with anything in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2018