British connection lands suspension

The Supreme Court on Monday temporarily suspended Interior Minister Rehman Malik as a member of parliament for allegedly running for office while still a British citizen.The constitution bars MPs from acquiring foreign nationality. Under the law, elected MPs can be ministers, although non-elected members of parliament can join the cabinet as advisers.
Malik, elected to the Senate in 2009, said he renounced his British citizenship and promised to submit documentary evidence in court. But a certificate presented to a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Monday failed to satisfy the judges.
“The bench ordered the suspension of Rehman Malik’s membership of the Senate,” an official told AFP on condition of anonymity. The court said Malik’s membership would be restored if he furnished adequate proof on June 13 that he had renounced his British citizenship before his election, he said.
Members of the government have accused judges of overstepping their reach and of trying to bring down the Pakistan People’s Party-run government before it becomes the first elected administration in Pakistan to complete an elected term. In April, the Supreme Court convicted Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani of contempt for refusing to ask Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. In the interim verdict, the apex court said Malik had failed to prove renouncing of his British nationality therefore under Act-63 he was illegible to have Senate membership.
Meanwhile, Malik’s lawyer failed to produce any evidence of Malik renouncing his British citizenship. Malik had submitted an affidavit before the court that he renounced his citizenship in 2008, but has failed to produce the required evidence thus far.Earlier during the hearing, a list of 14 more parliamentarians having dual nationality was filed in the Supreme Court.
The list included names of Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, PML-N’s Khawaja Asif, Anusha Rehman, Muhammad Ikhlaq, Ashraf Chohan, Waseem Qadir and Nadeem Khadim; Deputy Senate Chairman Sabir Ali Baloch, PPP’s Zahid Iqbal, Tariq Mahmood Alloana, Ahmed Ali Shah and Amna Buttar; and MQM’s Farhat Muhammad Khan and Nadia Gabol. Also, prominent TV anchor Dr Shahid Masood filed a petition against Rehman Malik, stating that the minister was a British national and Britain had appointed him the country’s honorary counselor in Niger, a republic in West Africa. Following the Supreme Court’s interim order suspending Malik’s membership, the government promptly decided to appoint him an adviser to the prime minister on interior affairs but a notification in this regard was not issued by the time this report was made at 1am.