Information Minister Shibli Faraz. SCREENGRAB/FILE
ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shibli Faraz’s plea to suspend the schedule of Senate elections on his vacant seat and declared that it would not interfere in the election process.
Earlier, an anti-terrorism special court (ATC) in Faisalabad had sentenced Faraz and PTI’s Omar Ayub to 10 years in jail each for their alleged role in the May 9, 2023 riots.
Following their conviction, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified Faraz as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and Ayub as Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly.
Later, they both challenged their disqualifications before the Peshawar High Court (PHC), but their appeals were dismissed as “not maintainable” as they had not surrendered before the court. They then approached the apex court challenging the ECP’s decision.
On Wednesday, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan heard the petition.
During the proceedings, PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan claimed that the election for Faraz’s seat was scheduled for Thursday (today) and requested the court to suspend the schedule of polls until the issue of his disqualification was decided.
Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi asked Gohar why he was seeking an eviction order when he had already nominated a candidate for the Senate.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail observed that nomination of a candidate was coercive, while Justice Rizvi further observed that Advocate Gohar himself was the party president and therefore should not seek such an order after fielding a candidate. “How many seats are up for election tomorrow?” asked the judge. Gohar replied, “only one”.
The PTI’s lawyer further said they were “disgraced and removed from two constitutional offices,” and requested the court to issue a stay order on the electoral schedule and stop the polling.
Additional Attorney General (AAG) Aamir Rehman informed the court that the Speaker of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, who was a party to the PHC case, had not been impleaded in the Supreme Court case. He added that under the law, surrender to the authorities was a prerequisite for seeking relief.
Justice MuhammadAli Mazhar questioned whether the PHC had ruled on the maintainability of the case, to which Barrister Gohar replied that the court had not yet dismissed it.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail observed that the court could not take any action in this matter at present.
