Adviser to Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik failed to produce his British nationality renouncement certificate in the Supreme Court during the hearing of the dual nationality case on Monday.
A three-member SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, resumed the hearing of the case pertaining to dual nationality-holding parliamentarians. Malik’s counsel, Anwar Mansoor submitted documents, including a copy of Malik’s passport as an evidence of renouncement of his British nationality. Mansoor said his client had renounced British nationality on April 27, 2008 and that renouncement fee had been paid from his wife, Saeeda Rehman’s account. He said her name had been misspelt in the document as ‘Saeed Rehman’.
Upon scrutinising the documents, the SC observed that instead of Saeeda Rehman, Syed Rehman was written on the document. The court said the documents were irrelevant and asked Malik to present a certificate of the renouncement of his British nationality. The CJP asked Malik’s counsel to provide a copy of the aforementioned application, adding that he was not dealing with a case of an ordinary person. The CJP told the lawyer that he could seek the Pakistan High Commissioner’s help to get a duplicate of the document. The petitioner, advocate Waheed Anjum had alleged that as many as 14 lawmakers belonging to the PPP, the PML-N and the MQM held foreign passports despite a clear bar in the constitution on dual nationality-holders from becoming lawmakers. Anjum presented the documents pertaining to the PPP’s provincial lawmaker Tariq Alwani’s dual citizenship. He claimed that according to the documents, Alwani was an American citizen and the documents had been verified by the office of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general.
The hearing was subsequently adjourned until today (Tuesday).
