Tariq Saeed Peshawar
The Peshawar High Court Peshawar on Thursday extended the stay on oath-taking of lawmakers notified on reserved seats, denied to the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council, till March 13.
Earlier, on Wednesday while acceding to the request of the Sunni Ittehad Council the Peshawar High Court two member’s bench comprising Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Shakeel Ahmed had issued a stay order preventing members from swearing in directing the Election Commission of Pakistan to submit its response in the said matter by Thursday March 7.
The Election Commission of Pakistan had on Tuesday rejected the SIC petition, seeking allocation of reserved seats following a merger with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf and instead notified allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities, which were claimed by PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council to Pakistan Muslim League of Nawaz and its allies including PPP and MQM P.
The PHC that had also formed the larger bench to hear the case of important nature adjourned the hearing of the case till March 7 and summoned the Attorney General for Pakistan MansoorUsmanAwan to appear before the court on the next hearing.
Thursday’s hearing of the plea was conducted by a five-member larger bench headed by Justice Ibrahim and comprising Justice Ejaz Anwar, Justice Atiq Shah, Justice Shakeel Ahmed and Justice Arshad Ali.
However Additional Attorney General AGP told the court that the Attorney General of Pakistan has been contacted but he was in the Supreme Court today. The AAG also asked for additional time for the case preparation,” Khan said.
The petitioner’s lawyer Qazi Anwar Advocate informed the court that the new advocate general will be appointed today after which he will appear in the case.
On the occasion, PTI’s lawyer Babar Awanapprised the court regarding the conduct of the presidential election and that the PTI-backed SIC, which possesses 93 seats in the National Assembly, has not been given its reserved seats yet.
PTI Lawyer Babar Awan lamented that one member of the assembly in the province has got two reserved seats. “The Election Commission has gifted reserved seats to these parties,” Awan maintained.
Considering new developments and the attorney general’s absence, the court decided to extend the stay order until March 13, maintaining the status quo on the oath-taking of National Assembly members on reserved seats. The larger bench headed by Chief Justice Ibrahim would preside over the case next Wednesday.
