SC suspends Farahnaz Isfahani’s NA membership over dual nationality

The Supreme Court on Friday suspended the National Assembly (NA) membership of Farahnaz Isfahani for holding dual citizenship, besides barring her from attending sessions and participating in standing committees meetings.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry issued the order on a plea by Syed Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi and others, challenging the holders of dual nationality as members of parliament.
The bench observed in its order that in the concluding para of the respondent, she had made an admission that she was a naturally born citizen of Pakistan as well as of the United States by virtue of the permission granted by the Citizenship Act, 1951, as also by the constitution.
The bench in its order noted that the parliamentarians with dual nationality contravened the constitutional provision of Article 63 (1) (c).
Earlier, Advocate on Record Chaudhry Akhtar Ali submitted a written reply on behalf of the respondent, and said that the court had no jurisdiction to go into such issues.
In her reply, Isfahani stated that she took oath as an elected member of the parliament, and was faithful and loyal to Pakistan, adding that her dual citizenship had not and would not undermine her loyalty to Pakistan. She said the dual citizenship was recognised by the law, and was permissible under the constitution. The only way in which a member of parliament might be disqualified was through the procedure laid down in the Article 63 (2) of the constitution, she added in her reply. She further contended that a dual citizenship could not be used to disqualify a member of National Assembly especially when the law itself had not been questioned directly before the Supreme Court. The dual citizenship has been evolved over the years and a number of countries had adopted this concept as it was for the benefit of both countries, besides ensuring the rights of the citizens of Pakistan who had gone abroad, she added. Commenting on the SC orders after her membership was suspended, Isfahani said, “I had instructed my lawyers to present true facts and that is what they did and if presenting truth elicits such snap interim orders, we have no regret and will continue to fight for our legal rights.”