Daily Times

The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) is set to announce its decision on a plea seeking disqualification of Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rasheed on Wednesday (today).

The three-member bench, headed by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and comprising Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, had reserved the verdict March 20, 2018.

The petition, filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Shakeel Awan who lost to Rasheed in the 2013 general election, maintained that the AML chief mis-declared his assets in his nomination papers.

During hearing of the petition, Awan’s counsel argued that according to the Representation of People’s Act, candidates were required to accurately declare all of their assets to the ECP. He cited the Panama Papers judgement as the most recent example where the court disqualified a lawmaker for failing to accurately declare their assets.

Rasheed’s counsel, on the other hand, contended that his client did not conceal anything since he later accepted the error made in the nomination papers. In his remarks, Justice Qazi Faez Isa observed that according to the petitioner’s logic, the lawmaker should be disqualified regardless of the fact that the error was admitted. Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed stated that it needed to be ascertained whether a lawmaker stood disqualified in such a situation.

Published in Daily Times, June 13^th 2018.