SC dismisses plea for disqualifying Dar as senator

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking disqualification of former Finance minister and PMLN leader Ishaq Dar as a senator for being an absconder in a corruption case against him.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed dismissed the petition for non-prosecution.

With the dismissal of the instant petition, the Election Commission of Pakistan is bound to issue a notification for Dar as a senator.

During the course of hearing, Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman told the court that Dar was elected as a senator in 2018. However, he did not take oath as the apex court had stayed the notification of Dar. The law officer submitted that the petitioner had challenged the qualification of Dar as a senator. However, the court had suspended the notification of Dar as a senator till its decision.

The additional attorney general submitted that a new law has been enacted whereby if a member of the parliament fails to take oath within 60 days, his seat will be considered vacant.

The counsel for Dar told the court that his client is abroad due to illness. Justice Ijazul Ahsen observed that the petitioner, Nawazish Pirzada, did not appear before the court on the last hearing and he also did not appear before the court today, adding that the court had summoned Dar but he too did not appear.