ISLAMABAD: Wednes­d­ay’s hearing in the disqualification case brought embarrassment to PTI stalwart Fai­sal Vawda when the Supreme Court pointed out that he ap­­parently presented an ex­­pired passport at the time of filing of his nomination papers for the 2018 general election to support his claim about renunciation of US nationality.

The documents submitted by the petitioner showed that the American passport had already expired in 2015, Jus­t­ice Ayesha Malik, a member of the three-judge bench hearing the appeal of Mr Vawda against lifetime disqualification, pointed out.

She also questioned when did the petitioner renounce his US nationality.

Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah wondered if the petitioner had presented a ‘forged’ passport which amounted to dishonesty, while providing an ex­­p­ired passport was a ‘tri­ck­e­­ry’. “Are you trivialising the courts,” Justice Shah asked.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, who was heading the bench, also remi­nded senior counsel Wasim Sajjad, representing the peti­tioner, that this was a ‘serious issue’. The court had taken up Mr Vawda’s plea seeking to set aside the Feb 9 declaration by the ECP of his ineligibility.

The counsel, however, con­tended his client was not at fault as he never sought US citizenship, but acquired the citizenship by birth. He also argued, “The mistake was not deliberate”.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2022