FO told to verify Punjab governor’s renunciation document

Seven-judge of SC hears whether disqualification under Article 63(1)(c) is permanent

ISLAMABAD : The Supreme Court has asked the Foreign Office to verify a certificate submitted by Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar about renouncing his UK nationality and submit a report within six weeks.

A seven-judge larger bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, is adjudicating on the question whether the disqualification of a parliamentarian under Article 63(1)(c) of the Constitution is permanent even if the lawmaker in question renounces his or her foreign nationality.

During the previous hearing, amicus curiae Bilal Manto raised the question if the disqualification of a lawmaker under the mentioned article would stand even if he renounced his foreign nationality. He said he was relying on the constitutional provision.

Article 63(1)(c) states, “A person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), if he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan, or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state.”



Citing an apex court judgment (PLD 2012), he said that the dual nationality should be declared per incurum on the basis of some omission.

The judgment was authored by former justice Khilji Arif Hussain.

It held that in terms of Article 63(1): “A person who holds dual citizenship, but wishes to be elected or chosen to become parliamentarian has to renounce citizenship of foreign state first, otherwise he would be disqualified to be elected, if at the time of submitting his/her nomination paper, he or she was holding citizenship of foreign state.”

On Wednesday, Justice Umar Atta Bandial said, “Do we want to expel Pakistani citizens who went abroad for education … and during their stay in that country, got its nationality? Do we want to have a ‘closed shop’?”

Besides constitutional issues, there was the question of national development, he said.



“We should not (hold a) myopic view to exclude everyone who obtained dual nationality,” he said, adding that although parliamentarians had been disqualified for holding dual nationalities, its application on government officials was being considered.

He had already said that the apex court’s interpretation should be “liberal and not punitive”.

“The Constitution is forever. We should give a (second) chance to those who renounce their foreign nationality and join parliament,” Justice Bandial said.

During the hearing, the bench also disqualified another lawmaker, Abdul Rauf Rind, on account of not obtaining certificate of renunciation before submitting his nomination papers.

Rind belongs to the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP).

Hamid Khan, the counsel for Chaudhry Sarwar, submitted two documents to justify that the governor had renounced his foreign nationality in July 2013.

But the bench asked the Foreign Office to verify both documents and submit its report within six weeks.

Later, the case was adjourned for a week.