Questioning the right of Dr Tahirul Qadri, as a dual national, to file a petition seeking reconstitution of the election commission, the Supreme Court Monday directed him to submit the concise statement of his claims and the notification of his Canadian citizenship.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and including Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed heard Qadri’s constitutional petition regarding reconstitution of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The chief of Minhajul Quran had filed the petition on February 7, asking the court to declare the appointments of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and four other ECP members as void ab-initio claiming these were not in accordance with the constitution. He also sought restraining the ECP members from working till the final decision on his petition.

During Monday’s the proceedings, the court grilled Dr Qadri over the status of his Canadian citizenship with repeated queries revolving around his locus standi against the composition of the ECP. The Attorney General however informed the court that a dual nationality holder could approach the SC under the provisions of fundamental rights and there was no such bar in the law. The chief justice said knowledge of Qadri’s nationality was pertinent for the court to proceed further with the case.

Coming on the rostrum, Dr Qadri said he wanted to say something before arguing case. He said: “This is my first appearance before the court and I have always struggled for the independence of the judiciary.” The chief justice told him to talk about his case and said “you have not given introduction in your petition that you have a locus standi to approach the apex court”.

The chief justice said “long time ago you had settled in Canada and now (you have) filed petition under Article 184(3). Dr Qadri said: “I am citizen of (both) Pakistan and Canada. In 1999, I had applied for nationality and after six years, (in 2005) acquired the Canadian citizenship after resigning from parliament.”

The bench inquired if he had acquired foreign nationality due to any threats, to which he replied that he had not attained Canadian nationality on the basis of any dangers to his life. The court asked if he had the citizenship certificate. Qadri replied that he did have it at the moment. “Can the government of Pakistan, with all respect to you, allow such a person (dual national) to retain its citizenship?” the CJ posed a question. Dr Qadri said under Section 14(3) of Pakistan Citizenship Act 1951, he could hold both the nationalities.

The chief justice said, “There is a bar on you under Article 63 (1)(c) to enter into parliament.” Qadri said under Pakistan’s constitution, he was not allowed to contest elections and enter into parliament but, he could retain his Pakistani nationality. He added that he had appeared before the bench as a voter, as the law differentiates between a voter and an elected representative.

Attorney General Irfan Qadir, whom the court has asked if Dr Qadri being a dual national has locus standi to file a petition under Article 184 (3) of the constitution, opined that there was no bar on Dr Qadri to file the petition. He said the scope of Article 184(3) was very wide and that the locus standi was not required in a quo warranto. He said that he would oppose the contentions of the petitioner, but he should be given an opportunity of putting up his case.

Dr Qadri said that Pakistan and Canada are Commonwealth countries therefore there was no bar on holding citizenship of Canada. The CJP said while acquiring the citizenship of any Commonwealth country “you vow allegiance to Queen Elizbeth. How can somebody who takes an oath of allegiance to another country be loyal to Pakistan? If I seek allegiance of a foreign country, how can I say that the parliament which represents the will of 18 million to 20 million people, is suffering from flaws.”

Upon that Dr Qadri said “I have a question to ask from the court”, but Justice Azmat told him that it is they (judges) who would question him. The chief justice ordered Tahirul Qadri to submit a concise statement regarding his right to file a petition for the reconstitution of the ECP by Tuesday.