ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday disqualified two senators belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for holding dual nationality. A seven-judge bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to de-notify Saadia Abbasi, the sister of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and Haroon Akhtar as members of parliament for holding dual citizenship on the day they filed their nomination papers for Senate elections held in March this year. Although Senator Abbasi had applied for renunciation of her dual citizenship on the date she filed her nomination papers, the renunciation certificate was received 12 days later. Akhtar holds Canadian citizenship. Though he applied for renunciation but could not obtain a certificate. The Supreme Court is also hearing a petition against Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar for possessing dual nationality. The PTI leader, however, maintains he has already surrendered his British nationality. The court has directed the Foreign Ministry to verify Ch Sarwar’s details from the British Foreign Office within six weeks. During the hearing, the top court also inquired regarding PML-N leader Nuzhat Sadiq’s renunciation certificate and directed the Foreign Office to verify her documents. Published in Daily Times, October 18th 2018.