The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Wednesday threw out a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Faisal Vawda against his lifelong disqualification from holding any public office by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), saying it was inadmissible for the hearing, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had reserved its verdict on the admissibility of the appeal filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Faisal Vawda against his lifelong disqualification from holding any public office by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah, on the occasion, asked Vawda’s counsel as to what should be the consequences of submitting a ‘fake’ affidavit. “The Supreme Court (SC), in its verdict, had gone one step ahead and said that criminal proceedings should be initiated in such a case,” he remarked.

Wasim Sajjad, counsel for the PTI leader, on the other hand, was of the view that his client could not be disqualified for life only on the basis of submitting a fake ‘affidavit’.   

He went on to say that Vawda had first filed nomination papers for a National Assembly (NA) seat. “Later, he resigned from the NA seat and was elected as a senator,” Sajjad said, and added that the ECP disqualified his client for life after reaching the conclusion that the affidavit submitted by him was fake. “This was despite the fact that the ECP has no authority to declare somebody ineligible. The ECP is not a court of law which could give a decision under article 62 1-F of the constitution,” he contended.

PTI leader’s counsel also gave references of the Supreme Court’s verdicts on the occasion.

The IHC CJ said that the affidavit had been submitted in light of the apex court’s verdict.   

Justice Minallah asked as to where the election commission had erred in its verdict. “The SC, in its decision you are talking about, had said that submission of a fake affidavit would invite tough penalties,” he reminded Vawda’s lawyer.

He stressed that the PTI leader would first of all have to prove his good intentions. “He could have produced the document in support of his argument that he had given up the foreign nationality at a later stage if it was not possible earlier,” he asserted.

“Was the SC supposed to order an inquiry into the genuineness of the affidavit?” he questioned.

The CJ asked Wasim Sajjad whether Vawda had submitted any document to the ECP which could show that he had relinquished his foreign nationality before filing the nomination papers. “Please satisfy us that if the election commission was not authorized to probe the matter, then who else was?” he asked.

PTI leader’s counsel replied that indeed the ECP could conduct an inquiry. “Was it appropriate that the commission had sent the matter of fake affidavit to the apex court, which has already declared in its order that any such act amounts to contempt of the court?” Justice Minallah said, and added as what else could the ECP do when it found out that a fake document had been submitted by the PTI leader.

Wasim Sajjad replied that the SC, in its decision, had only said there would be consequences, but did not specify what these consequences would be. “It is clearly written in the apex court’s verdict that contempt of court proceedings would ensue in the event of submission of a fake affidavit,” IHC CJ retorted.

Vawda’s lawyer did not relent either and responded that there was no mention of ‘contempt of court’ in the SC’s decision.   

The CJ made it clear to Sajjad that several lawmakers had been disqualified in the light of that decision.      

He further asked as to what else the PTI leader had to present in his defence now. “Will Vawda submit to the court the certificate tomorrow which could show that he had relinquished his US nationality,” Justice Minallah asked the counsel for the PTI leader who replied that he would look into it.  

Asserting that his client had not lied to the ECP, Vawda’s lawyer told the court that he had also got his second passport cancelled. “He even obtained a certificate from NADRA to prove that he was only Pakistan’s citizen now,” Sajjad added.

Reporter: Ihtesham Kiani