Khawaja Asif gets a big news from Supreme Court
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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court abolished the lifetime disqualification of Pakistan Mulsim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Mohammad Asif here on Friday.
Justice Umar Ata Bandial headed the three member bench comprising Justices Faisal Arab and Sajjad Ali Shah and it announced the verdict on Friday. The bench observed that the details of the verdict will be shared soon.
The apex court declared Khawaja Asif is now eligible to contest in upcoming elections, which are scheduled to be held on July 25.
The bench had earlier reserved its decision on the appeal filed on May 2 by the former foreign minister challenging his April 27 lifetime disqualification by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
PTI’s Usman Dar had initially filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court seeking disqualification of Asif over failure to declare his foreign employment in the nomination papers for 2013 general elections.
Dar counsel told court that Khawaja Asif was working as an employee in a foreign country while serving as a minister in Pakistan and adding that his oath should be revised.
Meanwhile, Khawaja Asif’s legal counsel had argued that he did not mention foreign accounts on nomination papers unintentionally.
The counsel informed the court that he had declared his bank accounts details and iqama (work permit) before the writ was submitted by Usman Dar.
After the announcement of verdict, Usman Dar congratulated Khawaja Asif for becoming eligible to contest general elections and challenged him that now be ready for the people court in Sialkot in the general elections.
Earlier on Thursday, Justice Umer Ata Bandial had observed that disclosing foreign salary by the petitioner (Khawaja Asif) is sufficient, adding that it was not fair to destroy anyone’s career.
