ISLAMABAD: The benefit of an amendment in the Elections Act, 2017, which prescribed the maximum disqualification period for a lawmaker, may not be applicable to the convicts of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), as the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday suspended the judgement that reduced the disqualification from 10 years to five years.

The decision of the IHC division bench dashed the hopes of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s candidate Faiq Ali Jamali to contest the upcoming polls.

The court issued a notice to the attorney general for Jan 15, as the matter pertains to the interpretation of the Constitution and statutes.

PML-N, a day earlier, awarded a ticket to Mr Jamali to contest the election for Balochistan Assembly constituency BS-16. Last year, Mr Jamali quit the Balochistan Awami Party to join the Pakistan Peoples Party. However, two months ago, he joined the PML-N along with other electables.

Court not considering election eligibility concerns, will limit itself to legal aspects, Justice Kayani asserts

His counsel Umair Bachani diverted the attention of the bench, comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, stating that the suspension of the judgement that reduced the disqualification of a NAB convict would bar his client from contesting the election.

“We don’t care,” replied Justice Kayani, adding that the court is concerned with the legal aspect of the matter.

The IHC single-member bench, comprising Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, in June last year, while hearing Mr Jamali’s plea against his 10-year disqualification ruled that since an amendment in the Elections Act, 2017, redefined the term of disqualification and made it up to five years, this benefit would also go to the NAB convict.

An accountability court had sentenced Mr Jamali to 14 years’ imprisonment with a fine of Rs6 million over corruption charges, and he was released from prison after completing his jail term in October 2013.

Section 15(1) of the National Account­ability Ordinance (NAO), which deals with the disqualification, says: “Where an accused person is convicted 3 [of an offence under Section 9 of this Ordinance], he shall forthwith cease to hold public office, if any, held by him, and further he shall stand disqualified for a period of ten years, to be reckoned from the date he is released after serving the sentence.”

In July 2019, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the then Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, had barred Mr Jamali from contesting elections till 2026.

Following the amendment in the elections law introduced last year that prescribed the disqualification for a period of five years, Mr Jamali approached the IHC seeking applicability of the Elections Act on NAB’s convicts.

The court ruled in his favour but the NAB challenged the said decision before a division bench.

During the hearing, NAB prosecutor Rafay Maqsood argued that the disqualification period starts from the time the convict is released from jail.

Stating that the PML-N ticket-holder was awarded a 10-year disqualification, the prosecutor added that the Supreme Court had upheld his sentence.

“The NAB ordinance is a special law. The sentence of 10-year disqualification is present in it,” the prosecutor argued adding that the Elections Act being a general law does not have an overriding effect on NAO.

The court adjourned further hearing till Jan 15.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2024