Daily Times

Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, has raised several important questions regarding the Supreme Court’s recent decision on reserved seats and has asked Registrar Jazila Saleem for a detailed explanation.

In a letter to the Registrar, he outlined nine questions concerning the procedural handling of the clarification request made by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) regarding the court’s ruling on September 14.

Justice Faez Isa inquired about when the clarification requests from ECP and PTI were submitted and why these applications were not forwarded to the Supreme Court’s Practice and Procedure Committee.

He further questioned how miscellaneous applications were set for hearing without a cause list and whether notices were issued to the concerned parties, including the Attorney General.

The Chief Justice also asked where the petitions were heard, why the cause list was not issued, and why the matter was not fixed in the courtroom for a hearing.

Additionally, Justice Isa sought to understand how the order was uploaded to the Supreme Court’s website without the original file and order being officially submitted to the Registrar’s office, and who gave the directive for this upload.

The apex court had previously issued a written order in response to the ECP’s plea for clarification on the decision regarding specific seats. In its order, the court reaffirmed PTI’s status as a registered political party and rejected any confusion created over this matter.

It also directed the Commission to recognise the certificates submitted by PTI members, warning that failure to implement the decision would lead to constitutional and legal consequences.

The order emphasized that the electoral watchdog could no longer alter its stance regarding PTI’s recognition under the pretext of clarification and that the ruling applied to both national and provincial assemblies.