Skip to main content

IHC asked to disqualify Vawda over dual nationality

ISLAMABAD: A petition filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday sought disqualification of federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda for allegedly concealing his US nationality at the time of filing his nomination papers to contest the last general elections.

The court will take up the petition, filed by lawyer Mian Faisal, on Wednesday (today).

The petition states that Mr Vawda contested the elections from NA-249 (West-II) Karachi in July 2018 on a ticket of the Pakistan Teh­reek-i-Insaf (PTI). How­ever, he was a dual national at the time of filing of his nomination papers, concealing his Ameri­can nationality by falsely declaring on oath before the Election Commis­sion of Pakistan (ECP) that “he didn’t have any foreign nationality”.

The petition, while citing documents of Mr Vawda rescinding US nationality, pointed out that the minister was a US citizen at the time of submitting his nomination papers on June 11, 2018, and even during the scrutiny of his nomination papers. The returning officer of his electoral constituency approved his papers on June 18.

“It was only after this approval that respondent No 1 [Vawda] applied for renunciation of his US nationality at the US Consulate, Karachi, on June 22,” the petition said, adding that the US Consulate issued the renunciation certificate to Mr Vawda on June 25.

Moreover, the petition states that Mr Vawda had on June 11, 2018 also submitted an affidavit claiming that he was not a dual national whereas till that time, his foreign nationality was intact.

“It is held in the judgement [of Supreme Court] that if anybody files a false affidavit, it will be considered he is filing the affidavit before the Supreme Court of Pakistan,” the petition points out.

It goes on to say that the Supreme Court has in one of its judgements categorically directed that candidates who previously held dual nationalities should have renunciation certificates at the time of filing of nomination papers.

Several legislators have been disqualified by the apex court on this account, including those belonging to major political parties, even though some of them had applied for renunciation of their foreign citizenship much earlier. They were unable to obtain the certificate at the time of filing of their nomination papers because of the long, drawn-out process of renunciation of foreign citizenship, says the petition.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2020



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/36Dx4Ei
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sialkot police bust gang of robbers, seize over Rs20m looted cash

SIALKOT: Police on Tuesday claimed to have busted an infamous gang of robbers and seized Rs20.3 million looted cash from their possession, ARY News reported. A spokesperson for the police confirmed the arrests saying the eight-member gang had looted a pharmaceutical company’s truck full of medicine. He said the looted cash to the tune of Rs20.3 million was also recovered from their possession. The police said the recovered cash and truck have been handed over to their owner. Read More: Youngster battles for life as Punjab police ‘mistakenly’ opens fire on him Earlier, on June 20, Karachi police had apprehended six robbers allegedly involved in a bank robbery of Rs10.5 million last month. The robbers had produced Rs9 million from the bank robbery in front of the police after being taken under arrest. The police also recovered the weapons used by the criminals in the bank robbery. The gang was stated to have a previous record of robbing various places in the city, the police said. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Peshawar security forces kill four suspected terrorists

The Peshawar Counter-Terrorism Department personnel gunned down four suspected terrorists after raiding their hideout on the Kohat Road Monday. According to the security forces, the suspects were plotting an attack. A cache of weapons and ammunition has been seized too. On Monday evening, a special CTD team raided the hideout after surrounding it and exchanged fire with them. No CTD personnel was injured in the operation. from SAMAA https://ift.tt/2V8MRbn
Post a Comment
Read more

Headlines 9am: Karachi to face power outages, coronavirus cases rise

Here are the headlines from SAMAA TV’s 9am bulletin. Pakistan has begun reporting fewer coronavirus infections in the last couple of days. In the last 24 hours, 3,964 cases were reported with 105 deaths. Around 73,000 recoveries have been confirmed so far. Three people were killed in a collision between a motorcycle and ambulance on the Mehran highway. A child was injured as well. Robbers looted a house in Karachi’s Azizabad in broad daylight and in the presence of a policeman. The cop chased the thieves but they were able to escape. SAMAA TV has acquired a CCTV footage of the robbery. A terrorism bid has been foiled in Peshawar. During a raid, security forces eliminated four terrorists. A cache of weapons and ammunition has been recovered. Saudi Arabia has announced it would hold a “very limited” Hajj this year owing to the coronavirus pandemic, with pilgrims already in the kingdom allowed to take part. The Kingdom has informed Pakistan about it as well. Pakistan’s Religious A...
Post a Comment
Read more