IHC suspends decision to cancel JUI-F leader Hafiz Hamdullah’s citizenship – Pakistan

The High Court of Islamabad (IHC) on Tuesday suspended the decision of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) to cancel the citizenship of the leader of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Hafiz Hamdullah.

Upon hearing a petition presented by the former senator and minister, the President of the Supreme Court of IHC, Athar Minallah, sought a response from Nadra in two weeks and ordered the authority, as well as the Ministry of Interior, not to take any kind of action against Hamdullah.

On Sunday, Nadra was reported to have declared Hamdullah a "foreigner" after discovering that she had "fraudulently obtained" her computerized national identity card (CNIC), which was subsequently canceled.

Although the government's decision had been taken two weeks before, it arrived at the spotlight only a few days before the so-called "March of Azadi" of the JUI-F in Islamabad. A notification issued by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) that prohibits television channels from inviting Hamdullah to talk about programs since a guest referred to a letter from Nadra dated October 11.

In his reaction, the JUI-F leader blamed state institutions for "political victimization" and said that no one in his family, including his father, had been accused of being a foreigner. He said his father was an employee of the education department in 1974 and had already provided Nadra with documents to prove it.

During today's judicial proceedings, Hamdullah said Nadra had canceled her CNIC and had filed a petition against the decision; however, no action was taken on the request for a week. He said that Nadra's decision should be declared void and that the Interior Ministry should not take any action.

Officials representing Nadra told the court that in December 2018, a letter was written to the JUI-F leader about his citizenship and a district-level committee was formed. After this, Hamdullah had appeared before the committee, which had asked for his documentation.

According to Nadra, the documents presented by the leader of the JUI-F turned out to be "false."

Judge Minallah asked if Hamdullah had children and if they had CNIC cards, to which his lawyer responded affirmatively.

The lawyer added that one of Hamdullah's children was even in the army.

"Can you doubt the citizenship of the husband of a mother who sends her son to sacrifice for the country?" IHC chief justice commented.

After hearing the initial arguments, the IHC decided to suspend Nadra's decision to cancel Hamdullah's citizenship.