ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned hearing for two weeks on a plea challenging eligibility of Interior minister Rehman Malik, after it was informed that the petitioner Moulvi Iqbal Haider could not turn up to argue his case as his entry into the apex court had been banned.
Advocate-on-record (AOR) Arshad Ali Chaudhry told a two-member bench comprising Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Tariq Parvez that the petitioner Moulvi Iqbal Haider had to argue his petition in person, however, he could not arrive at the Supreme Court building because of restrictions. The court then directed the AOR to produce on next hearing, the copy of the order, which restricted entry of Haider into the Supreme Court building, so that it could be examined whether the ban was still effective or not. Haider was barred from entering the Supreme Court premises on Nov 2,2007.
In his petition, Haider has sought directives of the Supreme Court to the Sindh High Court (SHC) to decide his pending plea seeking disqualification of Rehman Malik, as his conviction in corruption references stood intact after the NRO was declared unconstitutional by the apex court on December 16,2009. He said he had formally sent a request to the Senate Chairman to move reference for Rehman Malik’s disqualification, but to no avail.
