IHC admits for hearing petition seeking disqualification of Asif

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court on Monday admitted for hearing a constitutional petition seeking disqualification of Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif for concealing details of his employment with a UAE-based company.

A bench of IHC had earlier reserved its verdict after hearing arguments of the petitioner’s counsel with regard to the maintainability of the petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Muhammad Usman Dar.

The bench admitted the petition for hearing and referred it to IHC chief justice to constitute a larger bench to hear it.

The PTI leader approached the court seeking disqualification of the foreign minister under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.

Khawaja Asif had defeated Dar in the 2013 general elections with a margin of 21,000 voters.

The petitioner alleged that Asif did not disclose details of his employment with a Dubai-based company and his salary. Asif did not declare his employment with the foreign company in his nomination form for the 2013 general elections, he added.

He said the Supreme Court had disqualified former prime minister Nawaz Sharif  on the same ground as he did not also disclose his salary from his son’s Dubai based company.

After the Panama joint investigation team unearthed Sharif’s UAE working permit, the permits of two federal ministers –  Khawaja Asif and Ahsan Iqbal – had also surfaced.

On July 28, the apex court had disqualified Sharif for hiding details of his employment with the Dubai-based company.