The JUI-F leader Hafiz Hamdullah has been declared a Pakistani again after a court suspended on Tuesday a notification cancelling his citizenship.

On October 27, the National Database and Registration Authority revoked Hamdullah’s citizenship and declared him an alien. He was accused of “fraudulently obtaining” his identity card. The JUI-F leader had challenged the drastic step in the Islamabad High Court.

The court has even stopped NADRA and the Ministry of Interior from taking any step against Hamdullah. A reply has been summoned over the matter in two weeks.

NADRA argued that Hamdullah’s CNIC was first blocked in December 2018, adding that the documents he presented to a district-level committee were fake too.

The petitioner’s lawyer Kamran Murtaza said that this client has contested elections six times. He has even served as senator and MPA.

Chief Justice Athat Minallah asked if Hamdulla’s children were Pakistani citizens or not.

Murtaza replied that his client’s entire family holds Pakistani citizenship. One of his sons is in the army too, he added.

“How can we cast doubts on the citizenship of the person who has sent his child to fight for the country?” the judge remarked.

The restriction imposed on Hamdullah from appearing on talk shows has been taken back too.

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