The Supreme Court on Monday accepted for regular hearing the appeal of former foreign minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Asif, however refused to grant stay on the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) disqualification verdict against him.
A three-member special bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Umar Atta Bandial, after hearing preliminary arguments of Muneer A Malik, senior counsel for Khawaja Asif, accepted the appeal for regular hearing. The court issued notices to the parties concerned.
The court separately issued notices to the parties on the petition seeking to issue a stay order against the IHC ruling disqualifying Khawaja Asif.
In his arguments, Muneer A Malik stated that his client was disqualified on three accounts: holding an iqama, not declaring his salary in nomination papers, and not declaring a sum of 4,700 UAE dirhams in his nomination papers for 2013 general elections. He argued that ill intent had not been proven in this case, thus it demands further investigation. He contended that there had never been a transaction in a Dubai bank account which was closed on July 7, 2015.
He argued that in the nomination papers for 2013 polls, it had been asked about declarations of tax for previous three years only, which was furnished by his client. He argued that Kh Asif’s tax declaration from 2012 included details of the salary he received from his iqama job. He said 6.82 million dirhams in foreign earnings were also declared by him in his nomination papers. He said this sum included the proceeds from the sale of a restaurant in the UAE as well as the salary from the iqama job. He said the money already spent did not constitute an asset and that Kh Asif did not have expected future earnings which could have been declared.
He prayed the court to suspend the IHC ruling by accepting his appeal and restore him as member of the National Assembly.
In his arguments, counsel for Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Usman Dar, who had contested against Kh Asif in 2013 elections and was the petitioner against him in the case in IHC, contended that although the PML-N leader did mention his business, he did not declare the salary and the overall amount he received through his employment. Justice Umar Ata Bandial observed that any public office holder cannot engage in business.
Earlier on April 26, 2018, the IHC had disqualified Kh Asif as a lawmaker under Article 62(1)(f) of the constitution for not disclosing his employment in a UAE company as an occupation as well as the monthly salary he was drawing.
Published in Daily Times, May 8th 2018.
