The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed former senator and leader of Balochistan National Party (BNP) Muhammad Ali Rind to contest election. Announcing its verdict earlier reserved on September 21, the three-member bench comprising Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, observed that any person who completed his sentence awarded by the court of law did not remain ineligible to contest election for life.
The bench set aside the Balochistan High Court (BHC) verdict disqualifying Rind for life and allowed him to participate in the forthcoming election. The bench, however, upheld the BHC verdict to the extent of de-seating Rind from the office of senator. An accountability Court in Quetta had disqualified Rind for 21 years. However, later Rind entered into a plea bargain with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and got his conviction decreased to up to 10 years, which was to complete on June 28.
During the Senate election held in 2009, Rind had not disclosed his disqualification while filing his nomination papers and got elected as senator. Meanwhile, former provincial information minister Mir Muhammad Akram Baloch filed an application in the BHC against Rind, stating that he was a convict, and had not disclosed his disqualification in the nomination papers. Rind avoided to reply to the court’s notices for two years but later appeared before the BHC in July. The BHC on August 25 disqualified him for life.
The court also directed Rind to return all the perks and privileges he had taken during the two years as senator and directed the government to take action against him. Rind filed an appeal in the SC against the BHC verdict. On September 19, the SC observed that there was no need of any proof to declare a convict disqualified, as the conviction itself fell in the ambit of disqualification. Syed Iftikhar Hussain Gilani, counsel for Rind, had submitted that the ineligibility or disqualification of his client had ended on June 28, whereas the petition was moved on August 25.
Therefore, he said the petition was not maintainable. He submitted that if a person was convicted, his conviction was not considered final until the decision of the final court. Justice Jan however, observed that the conviction itself carried ineligibility, thus there was no need to declare a convict ineligible as well. Justice Khawaja observed that Rind was sentenced for 10 years, thus articles 62 and 63, which dealt with the disqualification, were applicable to him.
