ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that lawmakers holding dual nationalities were not eligible to hold any public offices and declared all such lawmakers as disqualified, DawnNews reported.
A three-judge bench led by the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had earlier reserved its ruling in the case relating to legislators holding dual nationality.
The ECP has also annulled the assembly membership of the of the 11 disqualified lawmakers in accordance with the SC's judgement. The lawmakers include Zahid Iqbal, Farahnaz Ispahani, Muhammad Ikhlaq, Ashraf Chauhan, Nadia Gabol, Amina Buttar, Jameel Awan, Waseem Qadir, Farhat Mahmood Khan, Nadeem Khadim and Ahmed Ali Shah.
Four among the disqualified legislators were from the National Assembly, five from the Punjab Assembly and two from the Sindh Assembly. The bench further directed that the verdict be sent to the speakers of the concerned assemblies and the Senate's chairman.
Disqualified MNAs include Pakistan People's Party's Farahnaz Ispahani, Zahid Iqbal, Muttahida Qaumi Movement's MNA Farhat Mahmood Khan and Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz's Jameel Awan.
Lawmakers disqualified from the Punjab Assembly include PML-N's Muhammad Ikhlaq, Ashraf Chauhan, Waseem Qadir, Nadeem Khadim and PPP's Amina Buttar.
Legislators disqualified from the Sindh Assembly include PPP's Ahmed Ali Shah and MQM's Nadia Gabol.
The bench said the lawmakers were being disqualified under Article 62 and Article 63 of the Constitution.
The court moreover directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to initiate proceedings against the said lawmakers who it said had committed perjury with respect to their oaths.
The court also ordered the government to withdraw the amount spent on the salaries and perks on the disqualified lawmakers from them and deposit the amount in the national treasury.
It also directed the Senate and National Assembly secretaries to submit a progress report on the matter in two weeks' time.
Ruling that Rehman Malik was a British citizen until May 29, 2012, the verdict stated that the PPP leader was not transparent with respect to his statements and could no longer be considered 'sadiq' and 'ameen'.
“Mr A Rehman Malik, in view of the false declaration filed by him at the time of contesting the election to the Senate held in the year 2008...cannot be considered sagacious, righteous (and) honest,” Chief Justice Iftikhar said in the ruling.
However, the apex court has reserved its judgement in the dual nationality case against Interior Minister Rehman Malik, which will be announced at an unspecified later date.
The bench also directed the ECP to initiate legal proceedings against Malik over the false declaration. It ordered that a criminal case be registered against the leader, who, it said, had submitted an erroneous affidavit for the 2008 Senate elections in violation of election laws.
The bench ruled the withdrawal of the amount spent on Malik's salary and perks from him and its deposition in the national treasury.
The Senate's chairman should send a reference against Malik, the court ruled, adding that, the minister's affidavit for the Senate's election was not transparent.
