ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa questioned on Monday why Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) “committed suicide” by merging with the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) after the February 8 elections.
CJP Isa made these remarks during a hearing of a petition filed by SIC, an ally of PTI, challenging the Peshawar High Court’s decision that denied reserved seats for women and minorities in national and provincial assemblies.
The 13-member bench, headed by CJP Isa, includes Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
“Why did independent candidates leave PTI, a political party? Why did you merge with another party, which contradicts your arguments?” asked the Chief Justice.
CJP Isa pointed out that if the independent candidates had remained with PTI, there would have been no issue today.
Following today’s proceedings, the Supreme Court noted that PTI leader Kanwal Shuzab’s counsel Salman Akram Raja and SIC counsel Faisal Siddiqui had completed their arguments.
CJP Isa instructed other respondents’ counsels to be brief, indicating that the court would not allow additional time as counsels for PPP, ECP, and the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) are set to present their arguments in the next hearing.
The Supreme Court adjourned the case until tomorrow (Tuesday).
Independent candidates backed by PTI, who won in the February 8 elections, had joined SIC in an attempt to secure seats reserved for minorities and women. However, this move did not succeed as the Election Commission did not allocate these seats to SIC, citing its failure to submit a candidate list.
The matter was taken to the PHC, which upheld the Election Commission’s decision. In April, SIC chief Sahibzada Hamid Raza and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly speaker approached the SC seeking to overturn the PHC verdict and secure 67 women and 11 minority seats in the assemblies.
On May 6, a three-member SC bench temporarily suspended the PHC verdict and referred the issue to a larger bench for constitutional interpretation.
Meanwhile, the ECP informed the Supreme Court last week that SIC does not qualify for reserved seats as it excludes non-Muslims from membership and failed to submit candidate lists before the January 24 deadline.
SIC also submitted additional documents to the apex court, including ECP notifications of success for two National Assembly lawmakers-elect, requesting their inclusion in the judicial records.
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