Dual offices case: Is reputation enough to disqualify a president?

Advocate argues Zardari should have been disqualified from holding office due to his reputation for taking kickbacks.

LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court has adjourned till February 14 identical petitions challenging President Asif Ali Zardari’s holding of two key offices. On Wednesday, Advocate AK Dogar argued that Zardari should have been disqualified from holding the office of president due to his reputation for taking kickbacks.

Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry asked Dogar if there was any quantifiable way of measuring a person’s reputation, since different people had different opinions on such matters.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan, another member of the bench, asked Dogar whether there was a precedent where the holder of a public office had been removed on the basis of reputation alone. Dogar sought more time to answer these questions. The court gave him until February 14.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2011.