ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has suspended order released to cancel citizenship of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) Senator Maulana Hafiz Hamdullah, ARY News reported on Tuesday.
The Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah conducted the hearing on a petition challenging the higher authorities’ decision that revoked the citizenship of Senator Hamdullah by calling him ‘alien’ for being an Afghanistan citizenship.
The NADRA officials told the court that Hamdullah’s national identity card had been blocked for the first time in December 2018 after writing a letter to him, whereas, a district-level committee was also informed where the politician had also appeared. The particulars presented by Hamdullah to the committee were found bogus, the officials said.
During the hearing, the lawyer representing Hamdullah apprised the court that his client is a senator and contested elections for six times, whereas, he became a member of provincial assembly as well.
Read: Pemra bars TV channels from inviting JUI-F’s Hafiz Hamdullah on talkshows
The lawyer further added that Hamdullah and his family possess Pakistani passport which was cancelled by NADRA authorities.
The high court issued directives to the authorities to stop further action against the JUI-F central leader and summoned a reply from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) within 14 days.
Later, the hearing was adjourned for two weeks.
On October 26, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) had issued notice to all television channels, barring to invite Hafiz Hamdullah in TV programmes.
The authority (PEMRA) ordered all television channel in its letter, a copy of which obtained by ARY News, to stop inviting and projecting the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) firebrand Senator Maulana Hafiz Hamdullah as he is a ‘confirmed Alien’ as per records of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and ‘not a citizen of Pakistan’.
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