SC resumes hearing against deputy speaker’s ruling

Supreme Court of Pakistan. — AFP/ file

ISLAMABAD: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday resumed the hearing of a petition filed by the PML-Q against the ruling of the Punjab Deputy Speaker Dost Mazari that paved the way for Hamza Shahbaz to retain his post of the chief minister of the province amid the boycott of the ruling alliance. The top court’s three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, and comprising Justice Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar — is hearing the petition. Lawyers representing the PPP, PML-Q president Ch Shujaat and the PA deputy speaker also came to the court but did not respond to queries about why have they come despite the boycott. A day earlier, the SC rejected the pleas to form a full court bench on petitions related to the Punjab chief minister’s re-election. The request for the full bench was made by the ruling alliance during the hearing of the petition filed by PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi challenging Dost Mohammad Mazari’s ruling rejecting votes of 10 PML-Q members cast in his favour and announcing Hamza Shehbaz as CM-elect on July 22.
During the course of the proceedings, Justice Umar Ata Bandial observed that they had reduced the burden of pending cases. The SC judges were reducing the backlog of cases with hard work and dedication, and were hearing the cases sitting in different registries. He said the court gave an opportunity to all parties in the case to present their arguments. The top judge said there was a direction by the party head in the instant case and the only point to be seen was whether the party head could overrule the parliamentary party’s decision or not. A parliamentary party represented the common people in the assembly, he noted.

Ruling coalition announces to boycott 

Following the SC’s decision to continue the hearing on the Punjab chief minister's election with the current three-member bench, the ruling coalition decided to boycott the hearing scheduled to be held today. Addressing a press conference at the Prime Minister’s House, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said if the SC doesn’t form a full court, “then we [PDM] will also reject all decisions of the judiciary as we will not appear before this three-member bench.” “We boycott the proceedings of the apex court,” Fazl announced, adding that the coalition government doesn't want any institution to interfere in its matters. Fazl, who is also the chief of the PDM, said that the counsellors of the government's alliance advised the jury according to the Constitution. "The top court, however, considered our demand impartially and rejected our petition.”

‘Fear of contradiction'

Earlier, taking to her Twitter account in reaction to the SC's verdict, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz stated that there was only one reason for not forming a full court — “fear”. “Fear of the contradiction of its own decision,” the PML-N's stalwart wrote.

Saying that she was “almost sure” that a full court will not be formed, Maryam added that when decisions aren’t taken in accordance with the Constitution, law, and justice, then the formation of a full court is "deemed dangerous."

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Additional input from APP.

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