Rejecting the petition of four Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Tuesday allowed Maryam Nawaz to continue as PML-N vice president but barred her from heading the party even on acting basis. A three-member ECP bench comprising Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) former Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza and two Members of Election Commission (MECs) former Justice Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi and former Justice Irshad Qaiser announced the long-awaited verdict in the case against Maryam filed by PTI members of National Assembly (MNAs); Maleeka Ali Bokhari, Kanwal Shauzab, Javeria Zafar and Farrukh Habib, on May 9.
The verdict allowed Maryam Nawaz to continue as vice president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) conditionally while declaring that she cannot be elevated as PML-N's president or secretary general in accordance with the relevant constitutional provisions.
A well-placed source in ECP told Business Recorder that the permission given to Maryam to continue as PML-N vice president is on conditional basis in the backdrop of the Avenfield Apartments corruption case pending in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against her and her family members.
"If the IHC decides in her favour, she would be permitted to keep the party office. However, if the court's decision comes against her, she would not be eligible to hold the party office," he said. On July 6, 2018, the accountability court handed Maryam seven-year sentence, her father Nawaz Sharif 10-year sentence and husband Captain Safdar (retd) one-year sentence in Avenfield Apartment reference.
On May 3, this year, Maryam was assigned the position of party's vice president by her uncle and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif who shuffled certain key party cadres. On September 19, 2018, the IHC had suspended the prison sentences of Maryam Nawaz and her husband Safdar and granted them bail. However, their respective convictions are still in effect.
On January 14, this year, the Supreme Court upheld IHC's decision to grant bail to Maryam and her husband and dismissed National Accountability Bureau's (NAB's) appeal against IHC decision. The case has since been pending in the IHC. The ECP source said the Commission ruled in favour of Maryam keeping in view that the IHC had suspended the accountability court's decision to sentence her. The PTI petitioners sought Maryam's disqualification from the party office while taking the plea before the ECP that she is unfit to hold any public or party office after being convicted by the accountability court in the Avenfield Apartments reference and that she also does not meet the criteria for the qualification of Parliament's membership and stands disqualified in the light of the relevant provisions of the Articles 62 and 63, and Political Parties Order 2002.
On August 1, the ECP had reserved its verdict in the case which was to be announced on August 27. However, on August 27, the ECP further postponed the announcement of the verdict till September 3 as it decided to seek opinion from the lawyers regarding the interpretation of Articles 62 and 63. Again, the ECP failed to release the verdict on the given date, which was finally announced on Tuesday. The Section 5 (1) of Political Parties Order 2002 reads, "(1) Every citizen, not being in the service of Pakistan, shall have the right to form or be a member of a political party or be otherwise associated with a political party or take part in political activities or be elected as an office-bearer of a political party, provided that a person shall not be appointed or serve as an office-bearer of a political party if he is not qualified to be, or is disqualified from being, elected or chosen as a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) under Article 63 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan or under any other law for the time being in force."
The then federal government of PML-N had got the Section 5 (1) of Political Parties Order 2002 omitted by introducing relevant amendment in Elections Act 2017 and getting them passed by the Parliament, which were signed into law by the then president of Pakistan. These moves apparently aimed at allowing Nawaz Sharif to continue heading PML-N as its president despite being disqualified by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers corruption case on July 25, 2017.
But in February 2018, the Supreme Court, on petitions against Nawaz Sharif holding office of PML-N president, barred the former prime minister from heading the PML-N and removed him from the position of the party's president.
"Such bar and prohibition shall commence from the date of disqualification and continue till such time that the lack of qualification/disqualification of such person continues in terms of the provisions of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution," reads the Supreme Court's short order issued on February 21, 2018. In the light of the same judgment, the Section 5 (1) of the Political Parties Order 2002 stands restored, ECP insiders informed Business Recorder.
The Article 62 (1) (f) reads, "Qualifications for membership of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament).-(l) A person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) unless- (f) he is sagacious, righteous, non-profligate, honest and ameen, there being no declaration to the contrary by a court of law-."
The Article 63 (1) (h) reads, "Disqualifications for membership of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament).-(1) A person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), if- h) he has been, on conviction for any offence involving moral turpitude, sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years, unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release-."
Reacting to the ECP's verdict, the federal government announced that it would challenge the verdict in the IHC. "In our opinion, ECP decision is against the law. Maryam Nawaz is convicted (by the accountability court) in the Avenfield Apartments corruption case. She is, therefore, ineligible to hold any party or public office. The daughter of the former prime minister is not fit for any position," PM's Special Assistant on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan told media on Tuesday.
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