ISLAMABAD – Four judges of the country’s top court recused themselves from hearing the suo moto case over the delay in the announcement of elections dates for Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Yahya Afridi recused themselves from the nine-member bench. Following the dissenting note, the request for reconstitution of the bench was sent to CJP Umar Atta Bandial.
During the hearing, the possibility of restoring the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies was raised by at least two judges.
During today’s hearing, PTI lawyers Ali Zafar and Faisal Chaudhry and former minister Fawad Chaudhry, Shireen Mazari, and Dr Waseem Shehzad, and PML-N’s Mansoor Awan, PPP’s Farhatullah Babar, Sheikh Rashid and other members appeared in court.
In his remarks, Justice Athar Minallah raised questions to review the dissolution of assemblies in two local legislatures as per the law. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah remarked that the assemblies could be restored if the bench found that assemblies were not dissolved as per the law.
After today’s development, Chief Justice Bandial remarked that four members of the bench have disassociated themselves and the remaining bench will continue hearing the case. The court will again hear the suo motu case at tomorrow on Tuesday.
Earlier, several questions were raised on the bench which excludes Justice Qazi Faez Issa and other judges. Later, lawyers group also moved SJC against Justice Mazahar Ali Naqvi in the bench.
The country’s top court earlier took suo moto notice on the issue and raised three points:
- It will assess who is eligible to issue the date for polls,
- It will decide on the constitutional responsibility of the federation and provinces,
- It will determine who will fulfil the constitutional responsibility of conducting elections and when.
