LAHORE: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Saqib Nisar has ordered notifications for the senators-elect to be issued while hearing the dual nationality suo moto case of four senators on Saturday.
The notifications had been halted on account of possible dual-nationality of candidates.
Chaudhry Sarwar declared that he had annulled his UK nationality in 2013, however, the nationality can be reclaimed according to the British law, said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader’s counsel.
In response, Justice Ijaz ul Hassan inquired that if Sarwar has revoked his citizenship temporarily just to become the Governor and does he have any intentions of reclaiming his British nationality later on.
He also demanded an affidavit that Sarwar will never again retrieve his UK nationality and that if he does so, he would be disqualified. CJP also quizzed Sarwar on what the PTI leader is doing in Pakistan when his family and bank balance is in UK.
“The verdict against me will not send a good message to foreign investors and overseas Pakistanis,” replied Sarwar. It will leave a bad impact on millions of overseas Pakistanis who send an investment of billions here, he added.
CJP replied that they are protecting the rights of the overseas Pakistanis even more than what they can do in their autonomy, so Sarwar shouldn’t worry about them. He also added that Sarwar is being emotional and his speech can satisfy him but it does not the law.
Earlier The AG had told the court that four senators, Chaudhry Sarwar from PTI, Sadia Abbasi, sister of the PM, Nuzhat Sadiq fron PML-N and Haroon Akhtar possessed dual Nationality.
It is believed that Sadia and Nuzhat hold a US nationality, whereas Chaudhry Sarwar a UK citizenship. Akhtar who previously denied his dual nationality is confirmed by interior ministry to be a Canadian citizen.
The senators have claimed that they have given up their other nationalities but no legal documents have been submitted.
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