ISLAMABAD, May 30: A citizen on Monday filed a petition in the Supreme Court to instruct the Sindh Assembly speaker to proceed with a disqualification reference against former Sindh minister Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh for concealing foreign assets. In his petition, Awami Himayat Tehrik chief Maulvi Iqbal Haider challenged a Sindh High Court order dismissing a similar petition on the grounds that a reference could not be moved against a parliament or provincial assembly member unless he or she was pronounced guilty by a competent court.

Mr Haider named the Sindh Assembly speaker, the chief election commissioner and Imtiaz Sheikh as respondents in his petition.

He contended that he had filed a reference against Imtiaz Sheikh before the Sindh Assembly speaker on March 1, 2005, but the speaker did not forward the reference to the chief election commissioner within 30 days, as is prescribed by Article 63(2) of the Constitution.

Mr Haider is seeking a Supreme Court instruction to the Sindh Assembly speaker to submit his reference to the chief election commissioner and initiate the necessary process.

Earlier, the Election Commission rejected his petition to disqualify Imtiaz Sheikh on the grounds that such a reference was forwarded to the commission through the speaker of the concerned house.