ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court will resume hearing the case pertaining to the duration of disqualification of elected lawmakers today.
A five-member larger bench, headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, is hearing the case to determine the duration of disqualification of elected officials on violation of Article 62(1)(f) and other election laws.
Though the over dozen petitioners are lawmakers disqualified for possessing fake degrees, the case has ramifications for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as well as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) former secretary general Jahangir Tareen — both were unseated from Parliament on violation of Article 62(1)(f).
At the last hearing on Wednesday (yesterday), the chief justice directed Nawaz’s counsel to come prepared next week.
During the proceedings, Advocate Muneer A Malik, appointed amicus curiae by the court, argued that articles 62 and 63 should be read together. He stated further that the articles have to be read in such a way that the basic rights of a lawmaker are not affected.
“Disqualification was declared time bound in the 18th Amendment,” Malik added.
After Malik completed his arguments, Tareen’s counsel Sikandar Bashir Mohmand began presenting his arguments. He contended that he does not support determining the disqualification durations on a case-to-case basis.
‘Sadiq and Ameen’
Article 62(1)(f) reads: “A person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) unless-…he is sagacious, righteous and non-profligate, honest and ameen, there being no declaration to the contrary by a court of law.”
On December 15, last year, the Supreme Court had disqualified Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Jahangir Tareen for failing to declare an offshore company and a foreign property in his election nomination papers.
Similarly, then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified on July 28, 2017 for concealing in his nomination papers the receivable income from his son’s company in UAE.
