A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday that challenged Attorney General Irfan Qadir’s letter to Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G Ebrahim on the matter of initiating proceedings against lawmakers who had been disqualified for holding dual nationality and for filing false declarations along with their nomination papers for elections to conceal their dual nationality.
Petitioner Mahmood Akhtar Naqvi requested the apex court to initiate contempt of court proceedings against AG Qadir.
It is pertinent to mention that on Sept 25, the attorney general had, in a letter, asked the CEC to proceed in the matter of dual-national lawmakers in accordance with the relevant provision of the 1973 Constitution while determining whether the Supreme Court was mandated by the Constitution to issue directions to the election commission.
“In my view, the Election Commission of Pakistan has the exclusive obligation to determine the questions of disqualification as per the relevant constitutional provisions and as such the ECP is not to perform its functions on the directions of any court in Pakistan including the Supreme Court,” the letter stated.
The petitioner pleaded the court to prevent Qadir from appearing before it as the country’s chief law officer and to add his name to the Exit Control List (ECL).
Furthermore, the petitioner requested the court to penalise the attorney general in accordance with the Constitution.
On Sept 20, the Supreme Court had disqualified 11 lawmakers after they were found to be violating Article 63 (1) (C) of the Constitution. The court observed that in view of the established fact that they had acquired the citizenship of foreign states, no question had arisen, which was to be determined by the speakers of the respective houses and thus no reference under Article 63 (2) was being made.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik, although not among the disqualified legislators, is among the lawmakers who are to face criminal proceedings for filing false declarations along with their nomination papers for elections to conceal their dual nationality.
