Govt to challenge Supreme Court's ruling on reserved seats

The federal government and its coalition partners have decided to file a review petition against the Supreme Court’s ruling, which declared the PTI eligible for reserved seats, a decision that dashed its hopes of gaining a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Federal Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar stated, "In the recent decision, undue relief was granted to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), prompting us to seek a review."

He claimed that the manifesto of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), the party that PTI-backed independent candidates joined, declares that no non-Muslim can be a member of their party.

In a presser last week, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif stated that any appeal against the decision on reserved seats would be filed after consultations with allied parties.

Tarar questioned the legitimacy of the top court's verdict, asking, "Did those who were granted relief even request it? A political party was given a right it did not deserve. We believe we are justified in filing a review petition."

He further noted that PTI had not conducted intra-party elections.

"Their MNAs did not declare before the judiciary that they were members of PTI. Were the MNAs who received relief present before the judiciary? Did they request the relief that was granted to them?"

The information minister further alleged that PTI had received funding from prohibited sources and had been securing stays in the foreign funding case for six years. He added that the party instigated the May 9 incident "for their own gains".

Till last week, despite signals from within the government hinting at the possibility of a review petition after seeking legal advice and thoroughly examining the apex court’s judgment, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan clarified that no decision was made.

It is pertinent to mention that the apex court had nullified the decisions of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) and the Election Commission Pakistan (ECP), ordering that reserved seats be allocated to PTI.

The top court recognized PTI as a party within the Parliament and the provincial assemblies.