Khawaja Asif challenges his disqualification, Supreme Court to hear on May 4

Former Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif has challenged his disqualification by Islamabad High Court in the Supreme Court. 

The supreme court admitted the petition for preliminary hearing on May 4. 

Asif has contended in his appeal that he unintentionally failed to disclose his foreign work permit in his nomination papers. He requested the apex court to set aside the high court's judgment, and fix the matter for hearing at the apex court.

The ousted foreign minister argued that he had already declared the bank account and Iqama before the filing of the petition in the high court. He said that the high court ignored the laws of UAE while hearing the case.

Khawaja Asif said that the external income showed 6.8 million rupees including salaries in the nomination papers, while Islamabad High Court gave a decision based on speculation.

A three-member bench of Islamabad High Court last week disqualified Asif as a lawmaker under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution for concealing details of his UAE work permit while contesting polls in 2013. Article 62, which sets the precondition for a member of parliament to be “Sadiq and Ameen” (honest and righteous), is the same provision under which former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified on July 28, 2017, in the Panama Papers case.