Post-election speech: SC declines to admit petition against Altaf

Petitioner wanted MQM chief barred from making telephonic speeches.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court has declined to admit a petition filed by the Watan Party to declare MQM chief Altaf Hussain an enemy of the country for demanding the secession of Karachi from Pakistan in his post-election speech.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry noted that they were not in a position to admit the petition and the petitioner may reach other available legal forums.

The petitioner argued that the MQM leader should be banned from holding telephonic speeches and the MQM stopped from conducting political activities in the country. Furthermore, the petitioner asked that all collaborators of Altaf Hussain be tried under the High Treason (Punishment) Act 1973 for making statements which he said compromised the integrity of Pakistan.

Barrister Zaffarullah Khan who was representing the petitioner in court urged that Hussain should be brought back to Pakistan with the help of Interpol and tried for crimes. He alleged that the MQM chief has been absconding since 1990 and must be brought before the court.



The court had asked the petitioner to submit an official notification issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declaring Hussain an elected head of the MQM, which the petitioner was unable to produce.

The ECP notification submitted only mentioned Dr Farooq Sattar as the duly elected deputy convener of the MQM. Since the petitioner had no grievance against Dr Sattar the court could not entertain the petition.

Barrister Khan argued that Hussain is a British national and must be disqualified for chanting anti-Pakistan rhetoric in the May 11 address to his supporters.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2013.