A three-member bench also suggested the appointment of three senior lawyers as amicus curiae or impartial advisers to the court. The lawyers included Raza Rabbani, Hamid Khan and Khawaja Haris,
Justice Jawwad S Khawaja also rejected the application of the Attorney General of Pakistan Salman Aslam Butt for dismissal of the petition seeking PM’s disqualification.
The Supreme Court’s Quetta registry held the hearing of the application filed by Gohar Nawaz Sindho, and the bench comprised Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani and Justice Mosheer Alam.
In the application, the petitioner had said that, according to Article 63 of the Constitution, a parliamentary member who defamed or ridiculed the army stood disqualified. Hence, he argued, both the PM and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar stood ineligible for Parliament.
Four petitions have been filed so far seeking the PM’s disqualification.
Sindhu, who is also the vice president of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Lawyers Forum, said that since the court reserved the rights to punish those who ridiculed the superior courts, it also comes into the court’s jurisdiction to give a verdict on this petition.
The attorney general cited a Lahore High Court verdict, which said it was a political issue, and should be addressed on a political forum rather than in court. However, Butt's plea was rejected.
After hearing the arguments of both the counsels, Justice Khawaja, while referring the case to the chief justice, remarked that the case was one of its kinds, and the court should give its verdict on the questions raised regarding the Constitution.
“Once the court gives the verdict on this petition, there would be no issue in future regarding the merit of public representation in 1,077 electoral constituencies,” he said.
The court referred the petition to the CJP, and suggested to appoint three senior lawyers as amicus curiae.
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I don't know what works Rex is living in , but for his info pakistsni nation has already seen court doing that recently .
I was afraid that eventualy it will have to come to this; when a Prime Minister is not prepared to accept the political ownership of events in the country. The people of Pakistan will now live to see the removal of the elected Prime Minister from his office by the Chief Justice of the country. Mr Sharif is not naive to know that Pakistan does not have the Presidential system.
Rex Minor
There has never been a court order against sharif family
During proceedings of PM's disqualification case, The Attorney General cited a Lahore High Court verdict, which said it was a political issue.
Come to think of it, what is not a political issue in Pakistan? Playing safe, this is a handy excuse which people normally use while avoiding having to take unpopular decisions: unpopular with influential quarters that is.
Karachi