ECP reconstitution: SC questions legitimacy of Tahirul Qadri’s petition

Qadri says only elected representatives are not allowed to hold dual nationality.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court asked Minhajul Quran International (MQI) chief Tahirul Qadri to explain the legitimacy of his petition which called for the reconstitution of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), reported Express News on Monday.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, hearing the petition, questioned Qadri about his Canadian nationality and remarked how a person can be a Pakistani citizen if he cannot be a parliamentarian owing to his dual nationalities.

The chief justice also asked Qadri to read out his Canadian citizenship oath, but the MQI chief said that he had not brought a copy of the oath to court.

The chief justice then himself read out the oath and said if he (CJ) swore his allegiance to Queen Elizabeth he would not sit on the seat of chief justice then, as he has no (morality) to question the country’s institutions after showing allegiance to another country.

Qadri, speaking to the media after the hearing, argued that according to sub-section three of Article 14, Pakistani citizens are allowed to hold nationality of another country as well. “But there is a notification which names the countries whose citizenship can be taken up by Pakistani citizens. The notification was not present in the court today, so the argument on it will begin tomorrow,” he said.

He explained his stance further by saying that it is only wrong for the elected representatives to hold dual nationalities but not for the voter.

The hearing of the case was adjourned till Tuesday (tomorrow).

In his petition, Qadri has claimed that mandatory hearing was not held before the chief election commissioner and other members of the ECP were appointed and thus, the commission should be reconstituted.