Court proceedings: SHC questions maintainability of plea

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) asked on Thursday petitioners to argue on the maintainability of a petition against the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) for using Pakistan’s flag as its symbol.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Irfan Saddat Khan, was hearing the petition filed by Afroz Gul and Nomita Gul, who had challenged PSP’s use of national flag.

The petitioners had named the provincial chief secretary, chief election commissioner and the chairperson of PSP as respondents.

In their plea, they said that the PSP was a political party having its own ideology. Therefore, the party must have its own flag to represent its ideology. The petitioners argued that the national flag is the symbol of the country and represents its entire population. Thus, it cannot be used by the political party to be its symbol, they added.

They pleaded to the court to declare that the use of Pakistan flag by the political party was a violation of the law.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2016.