Petition moved for Pak Interior Minister Malik’s disqualification

KARACHI - A petition has been submitted in the Sindh High Court (SHC) in Pakistan, seeking disqualification of the country’s Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, as his conviction in corruption references remains intact.

Petitioner Maulvi Iqbal Haider mentioned in his plea that the Accountability Court, Rawalpindi, had pronounced Malik guilty in two references, in absentia in 2004, but after the National Reconciliation Ordinance was promulgated, the cases against him were withdrawn, The News reports.

However, the cases were reopened after the Supreme Court’s decision on NRO, and because the Lahore High Court dismissed the petitions filed by him on May 17, he still remains convicted, Haider added.

In his petition, he submitted that though President Asaf Ali Zardari had pardoned the sentence of Malik, the offence committed would remain unchanged, and so the conviction was “still in field”, making Malik liable to be disqualified from being an MP. (ANI)