Faisal Vawda disqualification: SC says expired passport can’t be citizenship relinquishment proof

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 05 Jan 2023

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial expressed displeasure with Faisal Vawda during the hearing of his application against lifetime disqualification from holding public office.

The court asked how can an expire and canceled passport be proof of relinquishment of citizenship.

The remark came during the proceedings of a petition filed by a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader challenging his lifetime disqualification.

At the hearing on Wednesday, Vawda’s counsel Wasim Sajjad told the court that the returning officer was satisfied with the canceled passport.

On this, Justice Ayesha Malik – only woman jurist to be elevated to Supreme Court – said that the passport that Vawda showed to the returning officer in 2018 had already expired in 2015.

“When someone makes a new passport, a cancellation stamp must be placed on the old one, so how can an expired and canceled passport be proof of relinquishment of citizenship?” she questioned.

Following her remarks, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah said this exposes another lie of Faisal Vawda.

“In the affidavit, Vawda claimed that he does not hold a foreign passport,” the counsel told the court.

“In the affidavit, the passport meant citizenship of another country,” the court remarked.

Justice Ayesha Malik remarked the passport number was different on the record than the expired one. It is clear from different numbers on passports that Vawda was issued a new passport after the expiry date, she added.

Vawda’s counsel said the election commission has no authority to disqualify a person for a lifetime.

The court, however, refuted this saying that the commission does have the authority hand lifetime disqualification.

Afterward, Vawda’s counsel asked the court for more time for the preparations.

The case was adjourned till the next week.