Manend Team 
ISLAMABAD, (MANEND NEWS): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on
Saturday issued its detailed order in the disqualification case of Federal
Minister for Water Resources Muhammad Faisal Vawda.
Justice Aamer Farooq of the IHC had on March 3 disposed of the
petition challenging Vawda’s election after the minister submitted his
resignation from the National Assembly.
The IHC, in its detailed order, stated that, prima facie, the affidavit
submitted by the PTI leader regarding his dual nationality at the time
of his election to the National Assembly is “false”.
“Since the affidavits were tendered before the Election Commission of
Pakistan, it is just and proper that the Election Commission of Pakistan
probes into the matter of veracity of affidavit furnished by Faisal
Vawda on 11.06.2018 and if same is found to be false to stipulate the
effect thereof pursuant to observations made in PLD 2020 SC 591,”
the order said.
The judgment noted that since the lawmaker has resigned as Member
National Assembly, no writ of quo-warranto can be issued with respect
to holding dual nationality.
“However, the matter of furnishing false affidavit is to be probed by
the Election Commission of Pakistan […] and the Commission may
pass appropriate orders with respect to the same,” it added.
The court also observed with “dismay that respondent No.1 lingered
on the matter by not filing reply under one pretext or the other which
delayed the adjudication of the matter”.
Vawda had won the 2018 general election from Karachi’s NA-249
constituency.
In January of last year, an investigative report published in The News
had revealed that Vawda may have committed perjury by falsely
declaring in an oath to the ECP that he did not hold any foreign
nationality.
According to The News, Vawda was in possession of a United States
passport at the time he filed his nomination papers on June 11, 2018.
The minister remained an American national even when the scrutiny of
his nomination papers was completed.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan, in a past judgment, had categorically
ruled that candidates who hold dual nationality are supposed to submit
a renunciation certificate of the foreign nationality along with their
nomination papers.
The same judgment had previously led to the disqualification of
various lawmakers, among them being Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz
(PML-N) senators Barrister Saadia Abbasi and Haroon Akhtar Khan.
