SHC dismisses plea seeking PSP chief’s disqualification

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday dismissed a petition seeking the disqualification of Pak Sarzameen Party chief Syed Mustafa Kamal for allegedly concealing his government employment from the election commission in the 2002 general elections.

Petitioner Mohammad Salman Baloch, a former Muttahida Qaumi Movement MNA, submitted that Kamal was elected a member of the provincial assembly in the 2002 elections and City Nazim in the 2005, but he concealed his government employment at the time of filing of nomination papers in 2002.

He said Kamal’s record revealed that he remained in service as regular employee of the Karachi Medical and Dental College KMC and was dismissed from service on charges of misconduct on July 2, 2002. He alleged that the PSP chairman submitted a false declaration at the time of filing his nomination papers by concealing the fact of his employment in the KMDC and the KMC, whereas he was under legal obligations to declare all his credentials and antecedents, but he deliberately avoided to do so and usurped the office of MPA as well as a cabinet minister’s position for about two to three years without any lawful authority. Kamal also participated in local government elections of 2005 and got elected as City Nazim in 2005, said the petitioner.

Kamal’s counsel Hassan Sabir argued that the petitioner himself belonged to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and filed a petition to harass the respondent with the sole intention to defame him. He submitted that the respondent at present was not holding any public office; however, at present he was chairman of the PSP and he also remained a senator, an MNA, an MPA (IT minister) and was duly elected Nazim (mayor) of Karachi during the period from 2005 to 2010.

He said the petitioner remained a member of the National Assembly from 2013 till 2018 on a ticket of the MQM, left that party and joined the PSP, but due to his nefarious designs, illegal and immoral activities, he was sacked by the respondent from the PSP.

He submitted that the petitioner had suppressed the facts that before obtaining any party ticket Kamal had resigned from his services in the year 2000. The court was told that the petitioner also failed to give any plausible justification as to why he was prevented not to disclose the alleged facts before the Election Commission of Pakistan in the year 2002, 2005 or in 2013, and why after passing a considerable period of time he approached this court at the time when the respondent was not holding any public office.

He contended that the petitioner had failed to show any documentary evidence with regard to the ECP statement, adding that the respondent had not concealed facts at the time of the filing of nomination papers from the ECP.

A division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, after hearing the arguments of the counsel, observed that the petitioner attempted to challenge the past public offices and filed this petition at a belated stage on January 16, 2020, when the respondent was not holding any public office and his disqualification, as prayed from the date of filing nomination papers on October 24, 2002, for contesting elections of provincial assembly, his nomination papers for contesting elections of local government, and in 2005 for City Nazim, was not physically possible due to the inordinate delay and deep slumber on the part of the petitioner. The court dismissed the petition.