ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) larger bench on Monday started hearing a petition seeking disqualification of Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif for possessing an iqama (UAE work permit), directing the respondent’s counsel to submit a reply within 10 days.
The bench, headed by Justice Amir Farooq, also directed to give a copy of the reply to the petitioner’s counsel in advance so that both the parties were in a position to argue the matter on the next hearing. The bench reissued a notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) with directions to submit its reply by the next date of hearing. Asif’s lawyer submitted a civil miscellaneous application (CMA) to the court. Moreover, an official reply will be submitted in the next hearing. The application reads that the “constitution of a larger bench by this honorable court has directly deprived Respondent No 1 [Khawaja Asif] of his substantive right to an appeal provided for by Section 3 of the Law Reforms Ordinance, 1972”. The counsel for Asif said he did not want to press the application and would submit a detailed reply by the next hearing.
The plea for Asif’s disqualification was filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Usman Dar. The petitioner was a PTI candidate in the 2013 general election in NA-110 – the Sialkot constituency in Punjab from where Asif was elected to the National Assembly.
Published in Daily Times, November 14th 2017.
