Daily Times

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has dismissed a petition challenging the extension of the army chief’s tenure due to non-appearance of the petitioner. A seven-member constitutional bench, led by Justice Aminuddin Khan, reviewed the case on Tuesday amid existing objections from the Supreme Court’s Registrar’s Office. Despite multiple notices, petitioner Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi, who initially filed the challenge against the extension of the army chief’s term, was not present during the hearings. The Registrar’s Office had raised objections to the admissibility of the petition, which argued that the recent amendments to the Army Act violated constitutional limits on military service extensions. As the petitioner failed to appear to address these objections or argue the case, the court chose to dismiss the petition for non-prosecution. The bench noted the absence as a significant lapse, adding that the petitioner’s lack of engagement with the court’s notices demonstrated a lack of intent to pursue the matter seriously.