Prior to Ishaq Dar taking his oath of office as a senator on Wednesday, the petitioners withdrew a request that the PML-N leader is disqualified.
Dar will be sworn in as a senator today at 4 pm, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. He arrived in Pakistan on Monday night after completing a five-year self-imposed exile in the UK. Tomorrow (September 28) at 10 am, he will also take his oath of office as the next finance minister.
The appeal requesting Dar’s disqualification is currently being heard by a bench of four ECP members led by Nisar Durrani.
The petitioner’s attorney insisted that since they intend to appeal this issue to the supreme court, they are withdrawing their plea.
The petitioner, Advocate Azhar Siddique, was then told by the ECP to submit a formal request for the withdrawal of the application.
Dar’s attorney had contended that the president’s law regarding 60 days for taking the oath “does not apply on his client.”
A member cannot be dismissed if he refuses to take the oath even for five years, the lawyer claimed, adding that “the ordinance dissolved after completing its constitutional life.”
Dar had not taken the oath despite being duly elected to the Senate from Punjab. Due to his medical treatment, the former finance minister has been away from the country since October 2017.
