A petition was filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday against Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry, seeking his disqualification under articles 62 and 63 of the constitution.
The petitioner, an anchorperson of a private TV channel, mentioned that Fawad Ch concealed his assets while submitting his nomination papers with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The petition pleaded the court to disqualify the minister under Article 62 (1)(f) from holding public office as he did not disclose documents containing his proprietary information. It has sought the court to order lodging of a criminal case against him and withdrawal of all privileges granted to him as a minister.
“That Respondent No 1 (Fawad Chaudhry), with mala-fide intention and ulterior motives, concealed his assets, cost of assets and provided wrong & false statement of his own and spouses’ assets and their cost in FORM-B (Statement of Assets and Liabilities) along with Nomination Papers,” para 10 of the petition claimed.
Besides Fawad, the ECP, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and others have been made parties in the petition.
A rift between Fawad and the anchor reportedly started in June when the latter accused the minister of slapping him at a wedding. Fawad claimed that the individual tried to blackmail him by running a campaign against him. However, the anchorperson denied that he asked for money and also claimed that he had evidence that Fawad is conspiring against the government.
Fawad later called out the petitioner over the allegations on Twitter.
