The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday restored 10-year disqualification for convicts charged under the Natio­nal Accountability Ordinance (NAO) and suspended its earlier ruling limiting the same to five years.

The decision was taken by an IHC division bench comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz on an appeal filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the disqualification of former Balochistan minister Mir Faiq Ali Jamali.

The accountability watchdog had on July 25 challenged the IHC single-bench order limiting the disqualification to five years, since the NAO provi­des for 10-year disqualification for a convict.

An accountability court had sentenced Jamali to a 14-year imprisonment with a fine of Rs6 million over corruption charges. He was released from prison after completing his jail term in October 2013.

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, barred Jamali from contesting elections till 2026.

The then-CJP had ruled that the former minister would be allowed to participate in the elections after Nov 28, 2026.

However, after changes were made to the Election Act 2017 last year — reducing the period of disqualification to five years — Jamali filed a petition before the IHC seeking permission to contest the upcoming elections.

Jamali’s appeal against the rejection of his nomination papers had been fixed before the Balochistan High Court (SHC) election appellate tribunal for hearing yesterday.

In its appeal, the NAB pleaded that Jamali’s disqualification under the NAO could not be altered as the recently changed election law did not apply to his case.

Today, the IHC issued a stay order on its earlier verdict, restoring section 15 (disqualification to contest elections or to hold public office) of the NAO, which specifies a 10-year disqualification for convicts from “seeking or from being elected, chosen, appointed or nominated” as public office holders.

Last year, Jamali quit the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) leaders to join the PPP. However, two months ago, he joined the PML-N along with other electables.

The hearing

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

At this, Justice Kayani said the NAB official’s arguments did not address the question raised as the “sentence is not controversial”.

He asked whether the subsidiary legislation in the Constitution could be different from the interpretation given in it. To this, Maqsood replied that the matter had been discussed in the Constitution’s Article 63 (disqualification of parliament members) in a “general” sense.

“The NAB ordinance is a special law. The sentence of 10-year disqualification is present in it,” the prosecutor argued.

He added that the apex court recently upheld the sentence in the Khalid Langove case.

Subsequently, the IHC issued a stay order on its earlier ruling, restoring the 10-year period for disqualification.