NA speaker rejects disqualification reference against Zardari

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Wednesday rejected the reference of disqualification filed against former president Asif Ali Zardari.

It is pertinent to mention that the reference was filed by Syed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, also known as Zulfi Bukhari. The reference was received by the speaker of the National Assembly some days ago.

In the reference, it was requested that former president Asif Ali Zardari be disqualified as an MNA under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and it should be referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The speaker rejected the reference under Clause (2) of Article 63 of the Constitution and sent the copy of the decision to the ECP. Zulfi Bukhari, in his reference filed over three weeks ago, alleged that Asif Zardari, while he was the president, retained bulletproof vehicles that he had received as gift from foreign heads of state.

The reference said that then president was enabled to secure luxurious vehicles following ‘illegal relaxation of the rules’ granted by the then prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani in February 2009.

According to the reference, the former president had retained two BMW cars and a Toyota Lexus LX-470 gifted by then UAE president Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and former Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi.