Justice Bandial questioned why Roshan Ali had filed the writ petition against the CM in the high court as it was not maintainable. He added that the decision of the returning officer was not challenged at the right forum i.e. election tribunal; rather, a writ petition was filed. The court observed that the Sindh High Court (SHC) has rightly rejected the petition. The SHC in September last year had rejected a petition seeking disqualification of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah for allegedly failing to disclose his Iqama in the nomination paper.
Roshan Ali Buriro in his appeal pleaded the top court to set aside the SHC verdict and disqualify the Sindh CM for provincial assembly membership. He contended that Murad Ali Shah holds the office of Sindh chief minister despite the fact that he possesses Iqama of another country. The appellant contended when members of the national and provincial assemblies were asked to submit their affidavits to that effect that they don't possess dual nationality, Shah resigned as member of the Sindh Assembly to evade the process which could have resulted in his disqualification, criminal proceedings for false swearing of declaration and return of monetary benefits obtained as a member of the Parliament or a provincial assembly.
He maintained that the SHC rejected his petition on the basis of technical grounds instead of merits of the case. Murad Ali Shah concealed and signed the false declaration about his Iqama, he claimed. The appellant said there is a binding on every citizen to disclose to the state officials as well as the electorate the matter of possessing citizenship of the foreign state. However, the bench after hearing the arguments dismissed the appeal.