ISLAMABAD: The Election Com­mission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda over his unending quest for adjournments in the dual nationality case against him and instructed him to appear in person before it on Feb 24, the next date of hearing in the case.

The ECP expressed displeasure over the continued absence of the minister from hearings and fined him when Mr Vawda’s lawyer failed to turn up and his associate sought an adjournment, without presenting the paper of attorney (wakalatnama).

The plea for Mr Vawda’s disqualification as a member of the National Assembly on the grounds that he possessed the US citizenship at the time of his election was taken up for hearing by a five-member bench of the ECP, headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.

The fine was imposed after Mr Vawda’s lawyer Mohammad bin Mohsin failed to appear before the ECP during the hearing of the petition seeking the minister’s disqualification from the National Assembly.

“The lawyer (Mohammad bin Mohsin) is in Lahore because of a case in the Lahore High Court,” his associate Hasnain Chohan informed the commission.

The federal minister was also ordered to appear in person before ECP on 24th

On this, the ECP member from Punjab, Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi, observed that the “commission’s proceedings are not linked with the proceedings of any court. Bring the paper of attorney. We will announce the decision after recording the statement”.

The CEC also rebuked the lawyer’s associate, saying “you were given a last chance to submit your reply during the previous hearing as well”.

ECP member from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Irshad Qaiser wondered how the associate could oversee the case without having the paper of attorney. Consequently, the ECP stopped the lawyer’s associate from arguing the case and imposed the fine on Mr Vawda.

The petitioner, Qadir Khan Mandokhel, said the Supreme Court had previously disqualified Haroon Akhtar and Saeeda Abbasi from their Senate membership after it was found that they were holding the American citizenship. He said Mr Vawda too hid his American citizenship in his nomination papers.

CEC Raja observed that Mr Vawda had been given the opportunity to give a clarification on his citizenship during the last hearing in the case.

He also rejected further requests for adjournments and said that the ECP was “considering taking help from investigation agencies for cooperation from Mr Vawda”.

In November last year, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had given a month to the newly engaged lawyer of Mr Vawda to prepare arguments about a petition seeking the latter’s disqualification over the issue of dual nationality.

Justice Aamer Farooq of the IHC, however, had made it clear that this would be the last opportunity for Mr Vawda to deny the allegations levelled against him in the petition.

According to the petition, Mr Vawda concealed his dual nationality at the time of filing of his nomination papers and falsely declared on oath before the ECP that “he didn’t have any foreign nationality”.

It said that the PTI minister had submitted his nomination papers on the last date that 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.

Citing relevant judgements of the superior courts, the petition said that since Mr Vawda was a dual national at the time of filing of his nomination papers, concealed his US nationality and submitted a false affidavit regarding his citizenship, he might be disqualified to hold the National Assembly’s seat as well as the office of the federal minister.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2021