Supreme Court Issue Dual citizenship Notice

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday issued notice to Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah in a review petition seeking his disqualification on account of dual citizenship.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed took up the review petition filed by Roshan Ali Buriro against its judgment, rejecting the petition seeking disqualification of Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah for holing dual nationalities.

In January, the apex court had rejected the petition of Buriro on the grounds that he had failed to approach the relevant forum during trail of the case.

On Tuesday, Hamid Khan, counsel for the petitioner Roshan Ali Buriro appeared before the court and presented his arguments. The court than issued notice to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and adjourned the hearing for date-in-office (Indefinite period).

In January a three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Muneeb Akhtar and Justice Yahya Afridi had dismissed the petition of Roshan Ali Buriro of the Sindh United Party, seeking disqualification of Murad Ali Shah for holding dual nationality.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial at that time had ruled that the prima facie grounds for disqualification were not clear in this case and not maintainable to hear the case.

He had also observed that the Sindh chief minister had renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2013, therefore, he could not be disqualified on those grounds. He had further observed that Buriro’s intent was also questionable as he was a political opponent of Shah.

Justice Muneeb Akhtar, another member of the bench had questioned as to why the petitioner had not challenged the Returning Officer’s verdict in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which was the relevant legal forum instead of approaching the high court.

Everyone kept filing appeals for disqualification of office-bearers in high courts or the Supreme Court, he had observed. Buriro had earlier filed a similar appeal with a returning officer that had been turned down.