Stop playing hide-and-seek with court, IHC tells Vawda

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday remarked that Federal Minister Faisal Vawda should stop playing hide-and-seek with the court and turned down his plea to stay disqualification proceedings against him.

A division bench of the IHC heard the plea seeking disqualification of the PTI leader as member of the National Assembly. Vawda, through his counsel, filed an application requesting the court to stay proceedings against him for the time being. The court expressed displeasure over Vawda’s counsel for failing to submit his response to the petition and declined to give a stay order.

The court asked Vawda’s counsel: “Why haven’t you submitted a reply when this court had given clear instructions. Don’t play Chhupan Chhupai (hide-and-seek) with the court. This won’t benefit you.”

On Vawda’s disqualification plea, the court issued notices to respondents and sought their comments. The court said it has already ruled that the bench will decide the case at hand, keeping in view the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) record.

Earlier, Barrister Jahangir Khan Jadoon, the counsel for petitioner Mian Muhammad Faisal, alleged that Vawda lied in the June 11, 2018 affidavit he submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) before the 2018 elections that he has given up his dual nationality. He said the minister was an American national at that time but he fibbed in the affidavit, adding that he held the US citizenship even when his nomination papers were being scrutinised.

A news report had revealed that Vawda filed his nomination papers on June 11, 2018 when he still held the US nationality. His papers were approved on June 18, 2018. The federal minister had filed papers to give up his US citizenship on June 22 and was issued a certificate on June 25. Article 62(i)(f) deems it necessary for all members of parliament to be Sadiq and Ameen. They are prohibited from concealing information about their assets. On the other hand, Article 63(1)(c) of the Constitution says that “a person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of parliament if he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state”.

On October 17, 2018, two PML-N leaders were disqualified by the Supreme Court for holding dual nationalities. Sadia Abbasi and Haroon Akhtar had dual citizenship when they filed their nomination papers.