Islamabad (March 12, 2018): The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday summoned former finance minster Ishaq Dar in a case pertaining to approving nomination papers for Senate elections. The hearing of the case is adjourned until March 21.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar heard the case during which the CJP remarked that Dar has not challenged National Accountability Bureau (NAB) decision of declaring him absconder.
He has directed the former minister to appear in court in next week and appointed Babar Sattar as judicial assistant.
On February 17, an appellate election tribunal of the LHC granted Dar permission to contest Senate election, setting aside an order of the returning officer (RO) who had rejected his nomination papers.
On March 3, the former finance minister won a Senate seat as a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) backed independent candidate.
The petition contends that an absconder cannot contest elections.
“The apex court has categorically declared that a fugitive from law loses his normal rights granted under the substantive as well as procedural laws,” reads the petition.
“The impugned order may very kindly be set-aside, resultantly the nomination papers of the respondent no. 4 from the seat of Technocrat, province of Punjab, Senate Elections 2018, may very kindly be rejected and election of the respondent no. 4 may be declared void and set aside,” the petition reads further.
Previously, the Election Commission of Pakistan had rejected Dar’s nomination papers for being a court absconder in a corruption and money-laundering reference pending against him in an accountability court.
Dar had also submitted his papers for two different Senate election categories with a single bank account. The unattested copies of his CNIC attached with his papers were also a reason for the rejection of his papers.
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