Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa wondered on Monday why Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) “committed suicide” when it decided to merge with the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) following the February 8 elections.
The CJP’s remarks came during a hearing of the petition filed by the SIC, which is an ally of the PTI, against the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) verdict denying reserved seats for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies.
A full court 13-member bench, headed by CJP Isa, also comprises 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 the independent candidates leave PTI when it is a political party? Why did you commit suicide by joining another party which goes against your arguments?” asked the chief justice. The CJP said that had the independent candidates stayed with the PTI, there would have been no problem today.
Following the proceeding, the Supreme Court said PTI leader Kanwal Shuzab’s counsel Salman Akram Raja and SIC counsel Faisal Siddiqui have completed their arguments in the case.
CJP Isa directed the counsels of other respondents to keep their arguments concise as the court will not allow more time as the counsels for PPP, ECP and the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) will present their arguments in the next hearing.
The top court adjourned the hearing of the case till today (Tuesday).
The PTI-backed independent candidates who emerged victorious in the February 8 elections had joined the SIC in a bid to claim seats reserved for minority and women.
However, this did not help the party as the election commission did not allocate reserved seats to the SIC, citing its failure to submit its list of candidates.
The party had then approached the PHC on the said issue wherein the court upheld the electoral body’s decision. In April, SIC chief Sahibzada Hamid Raza, along with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly speaker, moved the SC seeking setting aside of the PHC verdict and the allocation of 67 women and 11 minority seats in the assemblies.
On May 6, a three-member SC bench headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, including Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah, suspended the PHC verdict. It then referred the matter to the judges’ committee for the formation of a larger bench since the matter required constitutional interpretation.
Meanwhile, the ECP had last week submitted its response to the apex court, saying the SIC does not qualify for reserved seats as the political party doesn’t allow non-Muslims to be a part of it. The ECP informed the top court that the reserved seats cannot be allotted to the SIC as the party did not submit the list of candidates before the January 24 deadline.
On the other hand, SIC also submitted the additional documents to the apex court, including the ECP’s notification of success for two National Assembly lawmakers-elect, with a plea to bring the said documents on judicial records.