Nadia Gabol, Farahnaz earn court's ire over absence in dual nationality case

KARACHI: A local court on Saturday expressed displeasure over the absence of Pakistan Peoples Party leaders Nadia Gabol and Farahnaz Ispahani during the hearing of a case pertaining to their dual nationality.

The Session Judge South directed the prosecution to produce the witnesses in the next hearing to record their testimonies against the PPP leaders in the case.

Gabol’s lawyer told the court that his client couldn’t appear in the case owing to the death of one of her relatives.

However, Ispahani’s advocate said his client couldn’t turn up because of her ill health and requested the court to grant her exemption from appearance before the court.

Earlier, the court had issued arrest warrants for both the leaders after their failure to appear despite repeated summons.

The case was instituted against Gabol and Ispahani, former MPA and MNA respectively, for not disclosing their dual citizenship.

In July 2012, as many as 11 members of the parliament were disqualified by the Supreme Court for concealing their dual citizenship.

Those disqualified included MNAs Farahnaz Ispahani‚ Zahid Iqbal, Farhat Mehmood Khan‚ Jamil Ahmad Malik and MPAs Muhammad Akhlaq Muhammad Ashraf Chohan‚ Nadia Gabol‚ Chaudhry Wasim Qadir, Chaudhry Nadeem Khadim‚ Amna Bhuttar and Dr Ahmad Ali Shah.