ECP informs SC about ‘dual national’ MPs

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday submitted a list of the names of 16 parliamentarians who failed to file declarations regarding their nationality status, to the Supreme Court. The 16 lawmakers, including the 10 who recently resigned from their seats, failed to submit affidavits pertaining to their nationality before the deadline given by the ECP that ended on Friday.
“The ECP has, in pursuance of the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of Pakistan vide its judgement dated 20-9-2012 in Constitution Petition No 5/2012 (Syed Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi vs Federation of Pakistan & others), sent the lists to the Supreme Court registrar containing the names of senators, members of the National Assembly and members of the assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa and Balochistan, who have failed to submit the requisite declaration until November 30, 2012,” said a press release issued by the ECP on Monday. A source in ECP told Pakistan Today that according to the law, all these lawmakers — whether they had resigned or were still holding seats in the assemblies, were liable to be tried for concealing their nationality status. The lawmakers include three senators – Malik Salahuddin Dogar, Nawabzada Mir Haji Lashkari, Haji Khan Afridi – and nine members of the National Assembly: Maulana Muhammad Qasim, Syed Allauddin, Tassaduq Masud Khan, Syed Tayyab Hussain, Nadeem Ehsan, Haider Abbas Rizvi, Sabeen Rizvi, Fauzia Ejaz and Dr Araish Kumar.The five Sindh Assembly members who did not submit affidavits are Murad Ali Shah, Sadiq Ali Memon, Abdul Moid Siddique, Askari Taqvi and Raza Haroon. Only one Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly member, Javaid Iqbal, is among the lawmakers who did not submit the affidavit. All members of the Punjab and Balochistan assemblies have complied with the ECP order.