Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday adjourned a plea seeking disqualification of Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif for possessing an iqama (work permit), till end of winter vacations.

A larger bench, comprising Justice Aamer Farooq, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, adjourned the petition due to unavailability of the senior lawyer of petitioner Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Usman Dar.

However, associate lawyer of the counsel for Dar appeared before the bench and submitted a reply before the court.

Khawaja Asif had earlier through his counsel Rashdeen Nawaz submitted a reply in compliance with court orders rejecting the allegations levelled against him by the petitioner.

In his reply, Foreign Minister said that Usman Dar approached the IHC against him over the iqama issue after he could not digest his 2013 election defeat and subsequent dismissal of his petition by the election tribunal and the Supreme Court, challenging the respondent’s victory. He contended that Usman Dar was trying to achieve his mala fide objectives by seeking re-adjudication of the election dispute indirectly through filing of the current petition, which was contrary to the principal of law.

Published in Daily Times, December 1^st 2017.