ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday formed a bench to hear former Foreign Minister (FM) Khawaja Asif’s plea against disqualification case.
According to sources a three-member bench headed by Justice Umar Atta Bandial along with Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah will hear the appeal case on May 21.
The appeal hearing will be reviewing Asif’s disqualification verdict announced by Islamabad High Court (IHC) on April 26, disqualifying Asif for life on grounds of holding Iqama (foreign work permit) of United Arab under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution.
Earlier today, Asif had submitted a written reply in the SC over his disqualification case arguing that the constitution didn’t barr anyone from working as a member of National Assembly (NA).
Asif in his reply added that he had declared his sources of income from private businesses which was not wrong. The FM further in his reply added that since there had been no transactions from his Dubai-based bank account, non-declaration of a closed account wasn’t illegal.
Former FM maintained the view that he had not disclosed the Dubai bank account unintentionally.
The disqualified FM had announced to challenge IHC’s verdict in SC on April 26.
IHC had ruled that Asif did not qualify to contest general elections of 2013 from NA-110, Sialkot as he fails to fulfill the criteria of Sadiq and Ameen stated under Article 62(1)(f) of the constitution read with section 99(1)(f) of the 1967 Act.
The Act rules out that Asif does not qualify for holding any public or party office for life.