To get Tarin elected on technocrat seat: Govt asks SC to withdraw its order suspending ‘senator’ Dar

ISLAMABAD: In an interesting move, the federal government has pleaded for withdrawal of the Supreme Court (SC) order that suspended Senate membership of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) central leader Ishaq Dar.

The government has submitted an application, requesting the apex court to allow it to file a petition challenging Dar’s election as a senator on a technocrat seat from Punjab in 2018. According to sources, it has been contented in the application that the SC suspended the directive of the PMLN leader’s election, which deprived the upper house of Parliament of a public representative, as he cannot take oath.

The application contains the argument that the president has recently promulgated an ordinance which fixes a deadline of sixty days for elected representatives to take oath of the membership.

In yet another application, the government requested for early hearing of the submission regarding the withdrawal of orders issued by the apex court about suspension of Ishaq Dar’s membership.

Dar was elected as a senator for the second time in 2018 on a technocrat seat from Punjab. He could not take oath as a senator due to his absence from the country. The SC suspended his membership for not appearing in the court on May 8, 2018. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had subsequently stopped his notification as a member of Senate.

Sources told The News that Ishaq Dar has also approached the Supreme Court and the ECP, stating that he was ready to take oath as a member of the upper house, but the only hurdle in doing so was an SC order of May 2018.

The PTI government has accelerated the process of de-seating Dar to have the incumbent finance minister Shaukat Tarin elected in his place. Dar told the media he had sent a letter to the ECP on Sept 29, stating that he had not taken oath as a Senate member, nor was he in a position to do so because of the suspension order of the top court. The former finance minister, who is currently in the UK, has also sent a copy of the letter to the Senate chairman.