Suspension of National Assembly membership: Farahnaz vows to contest Supreme Court decision

Farahnaz Ispahani, who was nominated to a reserved seat for women by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), on Saturday said that she would use all available legal and constitutional ways to contest the suspension of her membership. The Supreme Court suspended Farahnaz Isphanai's National Assembly membership while hearing the dual nationality case on Friday. Legal experts insisted that dual nationality was violative of the Constitution.
After suspension of her membership, she told Business Recorder that she had instructed her lawyers to present facts and that was what they did, and if presenting the truth elicited such snap interim orders, "we have no regrets and will continue to fight for our legal rights".
She argued that several parliamentarians had dual nationalities and that the suspension of a single member was "strange". "This contradicted the principle of equality in the eyes of the law". Ispahani said that Pakistan's law permitted dual nationality and added: "I believe that the Constitution does not envisage arbitrary disqualification of millions of Pakistanis who hold dual nationalities."
She said that during her four-and-a-half years as an MNA, she had served the people of Pakistan loyally and had fought hard for the rights of women and minorities. "I will continue to serve the country of my birth in all my capacities," she affirmed. Article 63(1) (c) of the Constitution states: "A person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), if: he/she ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan, or acquires the citizenship of a foreign State." Constitutional experts were of the view that dual nationality of a member of parliament or one who held a public office was not only violative of the Constitution but was violative of their oath and a "danger to national security". Senior Supreme Court lawyer Muhammad Akram Chaudhry said that membership of all public office holders or elected persons should be suspended.
Senator Syed Zafar Ali Shah, who is a veteran lawyer, said that holding dual nationality was a serious violation of the Constitution and his/her commitment to the "oath is doubtful". He wondered how an individual could be loyal simultaneously to two countries and where his or her loyalties would "lay if the two countries that he/she owes allegiance to are in a state of confrontation". Although former Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed agreed with the interpretation of Article 63(1) (c) of the Constitution, he said: "We should amend the Constitution and allow those who remit money to Pakistan to become members of parliament but withdraw citizenship from those who send money out of Pakistan".