ISLAMABAD: Former Member of National Assembly from the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Begum Shehnaz Sheikh, on Tuesday submitted a list of ‘dual national’ lawmakers, alleging that some of them were still members of parliament and enjoying perks and privileges.

In an open letter addressed to Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the former Minister of State for Health submitted a list of 20 lawmakers, saying that they had been given a different treatment, alleging that all these parliamentarians had not been directed to surrender their perks and privileges and some of them were still members of parliament.

“I, Begum Shahnaz Sheikh, former Member National Assembly NA-303, resigned from my membership of National Assembly on Sept.17, 2012 prior to the judgment passed by the apex court on Oct.20, 2012 on the dual nationality issue, but I have been dealt with an uneven footing which may hurt the very spirit of principles of natural justice,” she wrote.

The former PML-Q MNA submitted that she has never given any false statements before her party head (PML-Q), Election Commission of Pakistan, National Assembly Secretariat or before the Supreme Court.

She requested the chief justice that proceedings to the extent of recovery of the salaries/perks may kindly be stopped till the decision of her review petition pending before the Supreme Court.

The list of 20 lawmakers, provided by Shehnaz included Dr Asim Hussain, Sabeen Rizvi, Dr Araish Kumar, Syed Tayyb Hussain, Dr Nadeem Ehsan, Syed Haider Abbas Rizvi, Fauzia Ejaz, Dr Tahir Ali Javed, Jamil Ashraf, Murad Ali Shah, Sadiq Ali Memon, Abdul Moid Siddiqi, Dr Syed Muhammad Ali Shah, Askari Taqvi, Muhammad Raza Haroon, Engineer Javaid Iqbal Tarkai, Faiza Asghar, Donia Aziz (US Citizen by birth), Arif Aziz Sheikh (Australian Citizen by birth) and Muhammad Jameel Malik.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Supreme Court on Oct.3, 2012 had suspended the National Assembly (NA) membership of Shehnaz Sheikh for holding Australian citizenship.

The court had suspended the NA Membership of Shehnaz after taking suo moto notice on a news item on Sept.21, wherein it was reported that Shahnaz is an Australian-Pakistani, who has been an Australian citizen at least for 16 years, knowing well that a dual national is not eligible for the position she held in the previous parliament and the present one.