Dual nationality: MPA’s suspension extended till October 26

Petitioner demands disqualification of MPA after he misses hearing.

LAHORE:

Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial of the Lahore High Court has directed suspended MPA Rana Asif Mahmood of the PML-N to ensure his representation before the court on October 26, or he could be disqualified from the assembly.

The chief justice issued the order after neither the MPA nor his counsel turned up for Friday’s hearing of a petition seeking his disqualification from the assembly on the grounds that he is a dual national, and he is elected to a seat reserved for minorities though he is registered as a Muslim in the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).

Advocate Saiful Mulook, appearing for petitioner Faisal Ilyas Sadiq, objected to the court order, saying that Mehmood was deliberately delaying turning up in court because he had no defence. He said that the MPA should be disqualified in the light of recent Supreme Court orders on dual nationals as parliamentarians.

The chief justice, however, observed that the MPA must be heard before the court would issue a disqualification order.

Justice Bandial had suspended Mehmood on August 3, after perusing the record of all parliamentarians who had been suspended on the Supreme Court’s orders.

Mulook had earlier submitted that Mehmood was a Canadian national and so should be disqualified under Article 63(1)C. He also questioned whether the MPA was a Christian, as his surname and the NADRA record suggested otherwise. He said that opponents of Mehmood, while searching for documentary evidence that he was a Canadian national, had found his identity card for overseas Pakistanis, which stated that he was a Muslim. He said his three children were also registered as Muslims in the NADRA database, though his wife was registered as a Christian.

Mehmood’s counsel said in rebuttal that the MPA was not a citizen of Canada, but was a permanent resident and enjoyed the status of a national. He said the Constitutional bar on parliamentarians of dual nationality did not apply to his client.

He said Mehmood had contested his registration as a Muslim in the NADRA record and the mistake had been corrected.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2012.