SC dismisses Ishaq Dar's plea against disqualification over absence

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) has dismissed a plea from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar against his disqualification over his absence from court proceedings, further nullifying his stay order on his Senate membership, ARY NEWS reported.

According to details, the dismissal of Ishaq Dar’s plea will nullify a stay order obtained from him against a notification for his Senate membership, which requires him to take oath within two months or else his seat would be vacated.

Assistant Attorney General (AAG) while pleading his case before the apex court bench said that under an ordinance promulgated by the President, a Senate’s seat would be declared vacated after a lawmaker did not take oath within two months of being notified as the member of the Upper House of the Parliament.

The counsel of Ishaq Dar argued that his client has yet to be notified as the Senator and therefore the rule does not apply to him.

The apex court asked as to why the applicant has not appeared before the court as he had also skipped his previous hearing. To this, his counsel informed that he is ill and currently getting medical treatment abroad.

The court while hearing arguments from both sides decided to dismiss the plea.

Dar was elected as a senator on a technocrat seat from Punjab in 2018. He could not take oath due to his stay in London. However, the SC suspended his membership over his failure to appear in court on May 8, 2018.