Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court will hear Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) petition seeking disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and other lawmakers of the party on October 27.

The plea has been fixed for hearing after a year, and just five days before the PTI’s planned siege of the federal capital on November 2.

The Supreme Court had earlier announced that it would hear the Panamagate case on November 1, just a day before the PTI’s mass demonstration against the premier and his family members over allegations of corruption, tax evasion and money laundering, besides using public exchequer to set up offshore companies.

However, the court’s office has now fixed for hear on October 27 a case related to the resignation of PTI’s members of the National Assembly.

The top court has dispatched notices to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, PTI chief Imran Khan, opposition leader Khurshid Shah and PTI lawmakers for informing them about the court’s hearing.

The notices were dispatched to at least 40 parliamentarians of the PTI, including senators and members of the National Assembly.

PTI lawmakers, during the 126-day-long sit-in against alleged rigging in the general election of 2013, had resigned from their seats in 2014. However, NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq did not accept the resignations.

Feeling aggrieved, former PML-N senator Zafar Ali Shah had filed a petition before the Islamabad High Court (IHC), requesting the court to de-seat the PTI lawmakers.

Zafar Ali Shah had prayed the IHC to accept the writ petition and declare all PTI MNAs – who had voluntarily tendered their resignations before the National Assembly speaker – former MNAs.

He further prayed that the Election Commission of Pakistan might be directed to announce schedule for by-elections on the seats.

“It is the exclusive domain of the speaker to independently and judiciously apply his mind while deciding on the resignation of a legislator,” the IHC ruled while dismissing the petition.

Zafar Ali Shah then approached the Supreme Court, challenging the IHC order.

The PTI, through its lawyer Hamid Khan, had submitted a concise statement praying the top court to dismiss Zafar Ali Shah’s plea, saying that the jurisdiction of the superior courts did not cover the matter of resignation. The lawyer pleaded that the matter related exclusively to the functioning of parliament. He submitted that the high court had correctly held that the matter was outside the parameters of its jurisdiction.

Earlier on October 20, the Supreme Court had issued notices to Nawaz Sharif and others over petitions seeking his disqualification on account of Panama Papers leaks.

On August 28, Hamid Khan and Naeem Bukhari filed a constitutional petition on behalf of PTI Chairman Imran Khan. The petition sought disqualification of the premier and members of his family for their alleged involvement in Panamagate.

According to Imran Khan, the protest in the federal capital on November 2 would not end unless the premier stepped down or returned the ‘looted money’ to the exchequer.