ISLAMABAD, Feb 16 (APP):The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday dismissed the appeal of former senator Faisal Vawda against his disqualification by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the issue of dual nationality.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, who heard the petition, declared that it was non-maintainable and upheld the ECP decision observing that there was no reason to interfere it.
The court said Faisal Vawda had resigned as Member of the National Assembly to avoid his possible disqualification.
He had been using delaying tactics before the ECP and the court, and also refused to submit the certificate of abandoning the US citizenship, it added.
Earlier the court reserved its judgment on maintainability of the appeal.
The petitioner’s lawyer Waseem Sajjad argued that the ECP was not authorized to disqualify his client as it was not a court of law, and prayed the court to turn down its decision.
To a court’s query, the lawyer said Vawda had submitted his affidavit pertaining to dual nationality on June 11, 2018.
The chief justice observed that Vawda’s disqualification case was being heard for the last three years, and asked the lawyer to only point out the errors in the decision.
Waseem Sajjad said his client had not deliberately submitted a false affidavit with the ECP.
The court asked that what action the Commission should take in case of a false affidavit, and how Faisal Vawda could prove his honesty.
The lawyer said the ECP should have conducted an inquiry about the affidavit. Only the court of law was authorized to take action if the affidavit were found false after the inquiry, he added.
The bench observed that the Supreme Court in a judgment had observed that the submission of a false affidavit could have serious consequences.
The contempt of court proceedings could also be initiated on matter, the chief justice added.
The court asked whether Faisal Vawda had submitted a certificate of abandoning his US nationality till date. It was Faisal Vawda who had to prove his honesty and innocence.
The lawyer said Faisal Vawda had resigned as MNA for which he had submitted the affidavit to the ECP.
The court, however, observed that how it could ignore the decision of top court’s five- member bench.
The chief justice asked whether Faisal Vawda could provide a proof regarding leaving his US citizenship by tomorrow.
The lawyer said if the affidavit was found false then Vawda could be disqualified only for the MNA seat against which he had submitted it.
He had already resigned as MNA and the ECP could not disqualify him for life time, he added.
He said the lifetime disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution was like a political death sentence for someone.
Justice Athar Minallah observed that many politicians had faced such sentence and despite that the parliament had not abolished the article.
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