Ishaq Dar files petition in SC for early hearing of appeal

LONDON: Former finance minister Ishaq Dar has filed an application in the Supreme Court requesting for an early hearing of the appeal which has been pending before the court since 2018.

Senator-elect Dar has filed the application through his lawyers. He had originally filed an appeal in 2018 against his declaration as a proclaimed offender by accountability court.

The latest application in the Supreme Court of Pakistan is requesting intervention by the apex court to consider his case on merit.

According to his lawyers, Senator-elect Dar was first "blacklisted" by the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports without any basis or justification on July 24,2018.

That step practically banned the passport authorities in Pakistan and the Pakistani missions overseas from issuing a passport to Dar. 

Dar’s valid passport was then cancelled by Imran Khan's government on September 06, 2018. The action was taken despite Dar's written request for issuance of a requisite passport, being a necessity and a fundamental right for the purposes of travelling.

He maintained that it was a draconian step which violated his basic human rights.

The factum of cancellation of the passport came into Dar’s knowledge through media reporting on September 09, 2018, during his medical treatment in the United Kingdom.

"The cancellation of Dar’s passport was a violation of law and human rights by Imran Khan government as a result of which the Senator was stranded in the UK from September 2018 onwards, which made it impossible for Dar to travel to Pakistan even if his health condition had improved," Senator-elect Dar’s legal teams said.

In May 2022, Dar received his new passport in London which had been issued by Passport Authorities in Islamabad on April 26, 2022.