PHC extends bar on oath-taking of MNAs-elect till 13th

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday extended to March 13 the stay order on oath-taking of lawmakers elected on seats reserved for women and minorities and claimed by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).

The order was issued by a five-member larger bench of the PHC comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, Justice Ijaz Anwar, Justice S M Attique Shah, Justice Shakil Ahmad and Justice Syed Arshad Ali.

The petition was filed by SIC Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza against the non-allocation of reserved seats for women and non-Muslims to his party in the national, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provincial assemblies. Senior counsels Babar Awan and Qazi Muhammad Anwar represented the petitioner while Additional Attorney General Sanaullah, Qazi Jawwad, Gohar Rehman Khattak and Mohsin Kamran Siddique appeared for the Federation, Pakistan Peoples Party and ECP, respectively.

The petitioner has challenged the March 1 decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan in which the ECP had rejected the allocation of women and minority-reserved seats to the SIC. The ECP had also decided to distribute the seats among other parliamentary parties, which were subsequently doled out.

The counsels for the petitioner argued that his party had clinched 93 seats but it was denied its share in reserved seats for women and minorities. Babar Awan said a party, which had one assembly member in a province, had been allotted two reserved seats after the ECP gave reserved seats to other parties.

PPP counsel Qazi Jawwad said that the date for the presidential election had been fixed and the PHC could only issue a verdict once the case proceedings were complete. He said the court should change the interim order, as the women elected on reserved seats also had a right.

Babar said that the ECP verdict had badly affected the PTI. Qazi Anwar argued that according to sections 3 and 106 of Article 51, parliament would not be completed until the reserved seats for women and minorities were filled accordingly.

Earlier, AAG Sanaullah informed the court that AGP Mansoor Usman Awan was engaged in cases in the Supreme Court and sought more time. Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim said the court had summoned the AGP, upon which Qazi Anwar said that a new AGP would be appointed, who would then appear before the PHC.

Justice Ibrahim ordered that AGP appear before the court on the next hearing, extending the stay order on the oath-taking of MNAs-elect of reserved seats till March 13.

On Wednesday, the court sent the writ petition to the PHC chief justice to constitute a larger bench for its hearing.