KARACHI – An application filed to disqualify Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah due to him being overage was declared maintainable by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday. The ECP also directed the applicant, Sindh Doctors Ittehad Chairman Dr Muhammad Ali Thalo, to appear before the chief election commissioner on March 12 to argue his case.Thalo tried to file his application at ECP’s Karachi office in June last year, but provincial authorities did not accept his petition.
He then despatched his application to the chief election commissioner through a courier service, but was unable to receive any response. In July last year, Thalo filed a constitutional petition in the Sindh High Court (SHC) through his lawyer, but the court dismissed the petition later that year, on December 6.The SHC division bench comprising Justices Shahid Anwar Bajwa and Tufail H Ebrahim observed in the order that courts do not have power to either disqualify parliamentarians or issue directives to the government for amending the constitution.
The order also stated that the petitioner had failed to submit any constitutional reference before the court. Prior to the announcement of the verdict, the petitioner’s counsel presented various examples of age limit of public office representatives in many countries, including the United States.
The plaintiff submitted that educational degree is not sufficient eligibility for a public representative, but his age and health should also be considered and included in the eligibility criteria.He submitted that while an ordinary government servant is retired from his or her job after reaching 60 years of age since medical fitness is also a condition to continue their employment, the leaders who decide the future of the nation should also be in good shape to perform their duties in a befitting manner.
He maintained that the chief minister, who is over 80, is not above the law of nature and he now needs complete rest, so he should retire from politics altogether. The plaintiff prayed to the court to issue orders for constituting a medical board for thorough medical check-up of the chief minister and during this period, bar him from performing his duties. Thalo told Pakistan Today that he would present many evidences to the chief election commissioner to prove that the chief minister is a counterfeiter.
He said that the chief minister’s date of birth is listed as 1932 on the official website of the Sindh government, whereas it is listed as 1933 on the website of the Sindh Assembly.However, the chief minister’s actual date of birth is 1927 and even his son Muzaffar Shah had retired from a government job in 2004 when he reached 60 years of age, Thalo added.
Over 80 but hale and hardy… or is he?
