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Dual Nationality: Court Issues Warrants of Gabol, Ispahani

Karachi (September 21, 2017): A sessions court reissued arrest warrants of advisor of chief minister Sindh Nadia Gabol and former member of National Assembly Farahnaz Ispahani in a case pertaining to seeking initiating criminal proceedings against legislatorsĀ  possessing dual nationalities.

The court had issued the arrest warrants of the two leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party and their production before the court on the 23rd of this month.

It may be mentioned here that District and Sessions Judge (South) had issued the arrest of the two PPP leaders on August 12 over their extended absence in cases pertaining to possessing dual nationality.

Acting of the direction of the Supreme Court the Election Commission of Pakistan had filed complaints against Ms Ispahani, an ex-PPP lawmaker, and Ms Gabol, then an MPA of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, and other legislators in 2012 for filing false declarations along with their nomination papers for contesting elections to conceal their dual nationality.

The court had issued non-bailable warrants against the two women with the direction to police to arrest and produce them in court on Sept 1.

The court had dismissed the acquittal applications of Nadia Gabol and Farahnaz Ispahani.

The regional election commissioner had filed complaints under the different sections of the Representation of People Act, 1976, Senate Election Act, 1975 and the Pakistan Penal Code.

In September 2012 the Supreme Court had ruled that lawmakers holding dual nationalities were not eligible to hold any public offices and declared all such lawmakers as disqualified.

The ECP had also annulled the assembly membership of the of the 11 disqualified lawmakers in accordance with the apex court’s judgement. The lawmakers included Zahid Iqbal, Farahnaz Ispahani, Muhammad Ikhlaq, Ashraf Chauhan, Nadia Gabol, Amina Buttar, Jameel Awan, Waseem Qadir, Farhat Mahmood Khan, Nadeem Khadim and Ahmed Ali Shah.

Four of the disqualified legislators were from the National Assembly, five from the Punjab Assembly and two from the Sindh Assembly. The bench had further directed that the verdict be sent to the speakers of the concerned assemblies and the Senate’s chairman.

The disqualified MNAs included Pakistan People’s Party’s Farahnaz Ispahani, Zahid Iqbal, Muttahida Qaumi Movement’sĀ  MNA Farhat Mahmood Khan and Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz’s Jameel Awan.

Lawmakers disqualified from the Punjab Assembly included PML-N’s Muhammad Ikhlaq, Ashraf Chauhan, Waseem Qadir, Nadeem Khadim and PPP’s Amina Buttar.

Legislators disqualified from the Sindh Assembly include PPP’s Ahmed Ali Shah and MQM’s Nadia Gabol.

The court had said the lawmakers were disqualified under Article 62 and Article 63 of the Constitution.

The court had also directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to initiate proceedings against the said lawmakers who it said had committed perjury with respect to their oaths.

The court had also directed the government to withdraw the amount spent on the salaries and perks on the disqualified lawmakers from them and deposit the amount in the national treasury.

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