IHC reserves verdict on Gilani’s plea

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday reserved its judgment on the maintainability of an appeal filed by PPP's Senator Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani regarding the Senate chairman's polls.

A division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri heard the appeal of Gilani against the decision of a single member bench.

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Farooq remarked that in some cases, the Supreme Court didn't interfere in the affairs of parliament. The court noted that in the Azhar Saddiq case, the top court gave its instructions. The court asked the lawyer to clarify under what circumstances it could interfere in parliamentary affairs.

Senate chairman's lawyer Ali Zafar argued that the case of Azhar Saddiq was different in nature as it was related to the disqualification of Gilani after his conviction.

The speaker, in that case, had refused to send the matter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). He said that the top court observed that it was not the authority of the speaker to give such rulings.

Then the top court itself sent the matter to the ECP, he said.

He said that the current situation was different from that as there was no question about whether the presiding officer could announce the results or not. After listening to the arguments, the court subsequently reserved its judgment in the case, which it will announce today (Friday).