Daily Times

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by PTI leader Faisal Vawda against his lifetime disqualification from parliament by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for concealing his dual nationality during the 2018 general elections.

A bench of the ECP, headed by the chief election commissioner, last week disqualified Vawda for concealing his US citizenship and directed him to return the salary and other benefits he had received as minister and as a member of the National Assembly within two months. It had also de-notified him as a senator.

Vawda had subsequently filed an appeal with the high court on Tuesday, challenging the ECP’s decision.

The IHC observed in its judgment that the ECP had disqualified Vawda after concluding that he had submitted a false affidavit regarding his nationality to the commission at the time of the filing of his nomination papers to contest elections from Karachi’s NA-249 constituency in 2018, says a news report.

“The fact that on the date the affidavit was submitted along with the nomination papers, the process of renunciation of the petitioner’s foreign citizenship was not concluded nor completed stands established, rather, candidly conceded,” the IHC order read, adding that a declaration regarding the consequences of such an occurrence had been made by the Supreme Court (SC) in a previous case.

Citing the SC’s judgment in the case, the order stated: “If the affidavit or any part thereof is found false, then it shall have consequences, as contemplated by the Constitution and the law. Since the Affidavit is required to be filed in pursuance of the orders of this [Supreme] Court, therefore, if any false statement is made therein, it would also entail such penalty as is of filing a false affidavit before this [Supreme] Court.”

The IHC further said in its order that Vawda’s election had also been challenged previously through a writ petition filed in the same court.

“It was alleged that he had filed a false affidavit … [and] the petitioner’s conduct before this court remained evasive because, for reasons best known to him, he kept delaying the proceedings on one pretext or the other. After delaying the proceedings for more than one year, he informed the Court that he had resigned as a member of the National Assembly. The W.P. (writ petition) No.527/2022 petition seeking a writ of quo warranto had become infructuous and, therefore, it was disposed of by the learned Single Judge vide order, dated 03-03-2021,” the order read.