LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has been asked to de-notify former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as a member of the Punjab Assembly for not taking the oath of his office and also to strike down the assembly rules that do not provide for any time limit for taking the oath.

Chaudhry Nisar made it to the Punjab Assembly in the 2018 elections. “The act of not taking the oath by an elected parliamentarian amounts to depriving people of the constituency of their right to representation,” adv­ocate Mian Asif Mahmood argues in his petition.

He says Chaudhry Nisar was elected from PP-10 Chakri, but has not taken the oath of his office despite the lapse of more than six months. He argues that a parliamentarian’s act of not taking the oath of his office is tantamount to breaching a sacred trust of people and a violation of Articles 2-A, 17 and 25 of the constitution.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2019