Ishaq Dar's Senate membership suspended

Islamabad [Pakistan]: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has suspended the Senate membership of former finance minister Ishaq Dar.

"[The ECP] has been pleased to suspend the notification of even number dated 9 March 2018, to the extent of Muhammad Ishaq Dar, whereby he was declared as returned candidate from the Senate. against seat reserved for technocrats. from Punjab province," the Express Tribune quoted a notification issued on Friday.

This comes in the wake of the orders of the Pakistan Supreme Court.

On May 9, the apex court ordered suspension of his membership.

According to the report, the apex court had ordered the ECP that notification of Senator-elect Ishaq Dar as member of the upper house be suspended.

The order was passed in the view of Dar's failure to show up before the court irrespective of the repeated summons.

A petition, filed by Pakistan Peoples Party's Nawazish Pirzada, had requested the top court to suspend the Lahore High Court judgment, permitting the former Finance Minister to contest the March 3 Senate elections.

On February 17, an appellate election tribunal of the Lahore High Court (LHC) granted Dar permission to contest Senate election, as per several media reports.

Dar, who is also a top Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, was successfully elected to the Senate from Punjab but had yet to be administered oath.

According to Geo TV, Dar, who has been out of the country since October 2017 on grounds of his medical treatment, has since been declared a proclaimed offender in a corruption reference filed against him by the country's National Accountability Bureau (NAB).