Legal opinion sought on SIC's status

National Assembly speaker seeks AGP whether party can be classified as a parliamentary party

ISLAMABAD:

The National Assembly Secretariat has sought legal opinion from the Attorney-General for Pakistan (AGP), Mansoor Awan, asking the state’s top law officer whether the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) can be classified as a parliamentary party.

The little-known SIC became one of the largest parties in parliament when independent lawmakers, backed by the PTI, joined it after the official results of the February 8 general elections were announced.

In its letter to the AGP, the secretariat stated that SIC Chairman Sahibzada Muhammad Hamid Raza requested NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on March 14 to appoint Zain Hussain Qureshi as the SIC’s parliamentary leader.

The letter highlighted that the SIC did not participate in the last general elections as a political party and therefore did not secure a single general seat in the National Assembly. Even its chairman contested the last general elections as an independent and was elected as an independent member.

"About 86 independent members (mostly backed by the PTI) have joined the SIC after the general elections. However, confirmation in this regard has not yet been received by this secretariat from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

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"Moreover, in its February 28 order regarding applications filed by the SIC for allocation of reserved seats in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, and K-P, the ECP declared that the SIC is not entitled to claim quota for reserved seats for women and non-Muslims due to non-submission of a party [priority] list for reserved seats.

"As it is a legal question whether the SIC can be classified as a parliamentary party or otherwise, keeping in view the aforementioned facts, the Honourable Speaker has requested to seek the legal opinion of the learned AGP on the matter.

“The AGP has been requested to furnish his legal advice on the aforementioned legal question at the earliest for the perusal of the speaker,” the letter said.

On December 22, 2023, the ECP stripped the PTI of its election symbol due to alleged irregularities in the party’s intra-party elections held on December 2.

The Supreme Court later upheld the ECP order, and the party’s candidates later had to contest the February 8 elections as independents.

The party’s winning candidates had later joined the SIC following an agreement.