Daily Times

Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial has stated that dissidents have to face the consequences of going against the party policy as the disqualification under Article 63 is from 2 to 5 years.

A five-judge larger bench of the Supreme Court headed by CJP Bandial was hearing the presidential reference that seeks an interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution of Pakistan and Supreme Court Bar Association’s (SCBA) plea against political rallies in the federal capital on Monday.

The AGP told the court that along with Article 63 (A), Article 62 (1) F would be invoked against the dissident members. He argued that the dissident would be disqualified for life.

On this, Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked that diversion from party policy was a doubtful act. “If it has been proved that loyalty has been changed due to monetary gains then disqualification will take place,” he added.

AGP Khalid Jawed Khan said that the question before the bench was: how the court could read something which had not been written in the constitution. He said he wanted to give the reference to the 2018 judgement of the Supreme Court.

Moreover, the apex court demanded an affidavit along with the nomination papers for the election, though the condition of the affidavit was not there in the law and on the court’s orders, the affidavit was taken. He further said that the court declared the nomination papers sans affidavits incomplete.

Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel asked AGP Jawed Khan how the court could link Article 63 with Article 62 (1) F, adding that whether the AGP reckoned that there was some kind of lacunae in Article 63 (A). The AGP asserted that Article 63 (A) could not be read separately.

Chief Justice Bandial remarked that in the court judgement, the sanctity and legitimacy of the elections were mentioned.