Supreme Court Thursday disqualified eleven parliamentarians for violating constitution by holding dual nationality and directed them to repay all the monetary benefits to national kitty drawn during their stay in office.
As for the case of Interior Minister Rehman Malik, the Court ruled that Rehman Malik has violated Constitutional provisions and Representation of the People's Act 1976 by submitting a false declaration in relation to his dual nationality status during Senate election in 2008.
A person who is not honest and ameen does not qualify to become a member of the Parliament, it added. A three-member bench led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, comprising Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain issued the order in response to a petition filed by Syed Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi, who had urged the apex court to disqualify all lawmakers having dual nationality.
In its 14-page order, the bench issued directives to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to de-notify membership of four members of National Assembly - Chaudhry Zahid Iqbal, Farah Naz Isfahani, Farhat Mehmood Khan, and Jamil Ahmad Malik; five Members of Punjab Assembly - Muhammad Akhlaq, Dr Muhammad Ashraf Chohan, Waseem Qadir, Nadeem Khadim and Amna Buttar; two Members of Sindh Assembly - Nadia Gabol and Dr Ahmad Ali Shah.
The court ruled that Interior Minister Rehman Malik had made false declarations while filing his nomination papers before the Election Commission in the election held in 2008 and directed the Election Commission to institute legal proceedings against him as it has been directed in the case of other parliamentarians.
The court noted that Senator Malik, at the time of filing of nomination papers for election to the Senate held in 2008, had made a false declaration to the effect that he was not subject to any of the disqualifications specified in Article 63 of the Constitution or any other law for the time being in force for being elected as a member of the Parliament/Provincial Assembly.
The bench directed Malik to repay all monetary benefits drawn by him up to July 11, 2012 for the period during which he occupied the public office in the same manner as directed in the case of other Parliamentarians. Similarly, the court directed the Election Commission to examine the cases of the Parliamentarians and the members of Provincial Assemblies individually, by obtaining fresh declarations on oath from all of them so that they are not disqualified under Article 63(1)(c) of the Constitution.
It also directed the Senate, National Assembly, Punjab and Sindh Assembly secretaries to submit a compliance report in two weeks in the Supreme Court Registrar's office. Soon after the court verdict, Anwar Mansoor Khan, the counsel for Interior Minister Rehman Malik, told media persons that the court had separated the case of his client from that of other Parliamentarians holding dual citizenship.
He said the court had not disqualified Rehman Malik and he was still member of the Parliament and Interior minister but his case had been referred to the Senate Chairman. The former Attorney General further said the bench had issued order against his client on the basis of an affidavit submitted to the court earlier and the Chairman Senate has been asked to investigate the case of Malik. According to him, Malik has accepted the court's order.
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