Dual identity?: Minister disqualified by tribunal

MULTAN: An election tribunal on Thursday disqualified Minister for Prisons Chaudhry Abdul Waheed Arain for possessing two national identity cards. Arain was elected as member of provincial assembly from PP-196 on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ticket. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Rana Jabbar had filed a petition against him in an election tribunal. In the petition, Jabbar said Arain had been using two national identity cards - one for official documents and parliamentary affairs and the other for paperwork regarding his property, banks accounts and business deals. He said the latter showed him an overseas Pakistani national identity card. He said the MPA had violated the Article 62 of the Constitution and should be declared ineligible. He said he been using these NICs since 2003. Talking to The Express Tribune, Arain said he had submitted an application for cancellation of one the identity cards. “I respect the tribunal’s verdict but will challenge it in Supreme Court on Monday,” he said. He said he had won the election for PP-196 on merit. He said he had been assured by NADRA that his other ID card would not be an issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2015.