PTI plea frivolous, says SC registrar

Petition returned with six objections; PTI vows to file appeal

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday returned the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s petition, seeking a probe into the PanamaLeaks and disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, by putting six objections.

This month, the PTI chief Imran Khan was the second political figure whose plea was returned by the country’s highest court. Last week, the Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Sirajul Haq had also approached SC for the said purpose while invoking the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution. However, his petition was also returned.

Imran had requested the court to disqualify Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for lying on the floor of House regarding his assets. The registrar’s office of the apex court while returning the petition stated that the petition was not entertainable as the petitioner had not approached any high court for redressal of his grievance in the instant matter.

“This petition prima facie appears to be a frivolous petition within the contemplation of Order XVII Rules 5 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1980,” says the registrar’s office order.

The registrar office further stated that the petitioner had not approached any other appropriate forum available to him under the law for the same relief while he had also not provided any justification for not doing so. It further stated that the petitioner was directly invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, which is not permissible in terms of judgment reported as 1998SCMR 793 (Zulfiqar Mehdi Vs PIA, etc).

Moreover, the registrar’s office stated that the certificate provided at page 26-A of this Constitution petition does not fulfil the requirements of a certificate as required under Rule 6 of Order XXV of the Supreme Court Rules, 1980.

Mumtaz Alvi adds: The PTI said on Tuesday that an will be submitted in the Supreme Court within a few days after removing objections in the petition, submitted a day earlier for disqualification of the prime minister.

The PTI information secretary Naeemul Haq said that a team, headed by Hamid Khan, would draft the appeal. Meanwhile, the PTI has announced to take out a ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ rally on September 06 in Karachi to demonstrate solidarity with the motherland against Altaf Hussain’s tirade against Pakistan in a volley of speeches from his London residence.

Decision to this effect was taken here at a high-level meeting, presided over by the PTI chairman Imran Khan and participated, among others, by the party’s Sindh chapter leadership. The meeting vehemently condemned Altaf’s unprecedented assault on Pakistan and inviting other countries to help him undermine Pakistan’s unity and integrity. Imran will deliver a speech in the evening at historic Nashtar Park, Karachi, on the Defence of Pakistan Day and announce certain key decisions against Altaf on the occasion.