- Veteran parliamentarian’s unceremonious exit
Khawaja Asif, long-standing star of the now nose-diving PML-N show, variously minister for water and power, defence, and foreign minister, on Thursday achieved the dubious distinction of being the second domino to fall after Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification for life. His case was ominously overshadowed by Supreme Court decision in ‘Mian Nawaz Sharif versus Imran Khan Niazi’ hearing, making the task of the concerned three-member Islamabad High Court (IHC) bench that much easier. The impact of an iqama or resident work permit, strictly only a moral four-letter word in legal terms, is absolutely fatal politically when relative employment and salary details are deliberately withheld or couched in evasive terms in nomination papers and tax returns. The IHC self-confessedly passed an unpleasant judgment with a heavy heart against the seasoned politician, winner in NA-110 Sialkot since 1993,who bagged 92,803 votes in 2013 elections, but there was an element of poetic justice also, for Khawaja Asif’s nomination papers were indeed challenged by other contestants at the time, and he had only been allowed to contest by a Lahore High Court ruling of April 17, 2013.
Since the iqama Pandora’s Box has been opened, many others politicians and public figures with the now damning document secreted in their closets would be missing a heartbeat at being the next casualty. The losing candidate in constituency NA-117 (Narowal) will probably be knocking soon at Supreme Court doors against the winner, who is reportedly also the proud possessor of Saudi Iqama (allegedly lapsed, but not timely reported) and just happens to be the incumbent interior minister, Professor Ahsan Iqbal. These political matters should ideally and wisely be resolved in parliament or by the Election Commission, but the former is habitually ignored by party leaderships and backbenchers alike, while the latter is perceived as toothless and lacking in credibility. Khawaja Asif should bravely resign as foreign minister and avoid a Supreme Court review, a wiser and more dignified course both for his own and the country’s battered image. The immoral and unethical practice of working ‘under two flags’ for pecuniary gain by public figures is no longer an option.
