ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday admitted for regular hearing a petition seeking disqualification of the federal Minister for Water Resources, Faisal Vawda.

Justice Aamer Farooq of the IHC issued a notice to Mr Vawda and sought his reply on the petition by Feb 24.

Barrister Jahangir Jadoon, counsel for the petitioner, informed the court that Mr Vawda contested elections from NA-249 (West-II), Karachi, in July 2018 on a ticket of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

He said that Mr Vawda concealed his dual nationality at the time of filing of his nomination papers and falsely declared on oath before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that “he didn’t have any foreign nationality”.

Justice Farooq inquired from the counsel about the cut-off date for filing of nomination papers.

Minister asked to submit his reply by Feb 24

Barrister Jadoon replied that the last date of filing of nomination papers was June 11.

He said the PTI minister submitted his nomination papers on the last date which were cleared on June 18, adding that Mr Vawda applied for renunciation of his US nationality in the US Consulate, Karachi, on June 22 and the latter issued him the certificate on June 25.

Mr Jadoon, while citing relevant judgements of superior courts, said that since Mr Vawda was a dual national at the time of filing of his nomination papers, he concealed his US nationality and submitted a false affidavit regarding his citizenship and, therefore, he may be disqualified to hold the National Assembly’s seat and the office of the federal minister. The counsel requested the court to declare Mr Vawda not sagacious and honest and disqualify him under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution for filing the false affidavit.

The petition also requested the court to order the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold re-election in the constituency of NA-249, Karachi.

It further requested the court to direct Mr Vawda to “refund the sums received in terms of salary/remuneration, accommodation allowances and other perks and privileges”.

The petitioner also prayed that Mr Vawda “be restrained from performing official functions as the federal minister” till the adjudication of the matter.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2020