Perjury charge against PM: Pleas for disqualification to be taken up Monday
Three-judge bench formed; petitions were filed by PTI and PML-Q.
ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court will take up on September 29 two petitions seeking the disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for alleged perjury lying in parliament.
A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, the senior-most judge of the apex court, will take up the petitions, filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Ishaq Khan Khakwani. Other members of the bench are Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Dost Muhammad Khan.
The two parties moved the petitions under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution, seeking disqualification of the prime minister under Article 62 (f) of the Constitution which states, “A person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) unless… he is sagacious, righteous and non-profligate, honest and ameen, there being no declaration to the contrary by a court of law.”
The petitioners prayed the court disqualify the prime minister for making a ‘false statement’ on the floor of the National Assembly. The petitioners contended that Nawaz was also involved in an attack on the Supreme Court as well as going abroad for 10 years after signing a pardon agreement with former president Pervez Musharraf. Nawaz Sharif had denied making such an agreement.
Khakwani submitted the petition on September 2 through his counsel Advocate Irfan Qadir, citing the premier’s controversial statement in Parliament regarding the role of the army in the ongoing political crisis.
Former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Yasin Azad told The Express Tribune that the prime minister gave a statement on the floor of house and the parliament’s proceedings could not be challenged in the apex court under Article 68 of the Constitution.
Conversely, lawyer Chaudhry Faisal Hussain believes that parliament’s proceedings could be challenged in the apex court, citing rejection of the National Assembly speaker’s ruling regarding the disqualification of the then former prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, as a precedent.
On Friday, Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk heard Khakwani’s appeal against the registrar office’s objections to his petition. Advocate Qadir appeared before the chief justice and contended that the registrar has no power to decide as to whether a petition is maintainable or not.
“The question of maintainability is to be decided by the Supreme Court in terms of Article 184(3) of the Constitution. In the instant case, the institution officer has assumed upon himself the functions of the Supreme Court,” the PTI leader’s appeal says.
After hearing the arguments, the chief justice set aside the registrar office’s objections and fixed the case for preliminary hearing. Now the case has been fixed on September 29.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2014.
The Supreme Court will take up on September 29 two petitions seeking the disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for alleged perjury lying in parliament.
A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, the senior-most judge of the apex court, will take up the petitions, filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Ishaq Khan Khakwani. Other members of the bench are Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Dost Muhammad Khan.
The two parties moved the petitions under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution, seeking disqualification of the prime minister under Article 62 (f) of the Constitution which states, “A person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) unless… he is sagacious, righteous and non-profligate, honest and ameen, there being no declaration to the contrary by a court of law.”
The petitioners prayed the court disqualify the prime minister for making a ‘false statement’ on the floor of the National Assembly. The petitioners contended that Nawaz was also involved in an attack on the Supreme Court as well as going abroad for 10 years after signing a pardon agreement with former president Pervez Musharraf. Nawaz Sharif had denied making such an agreement.
Khakwani submitted the petition on September 2 through his counsel Advocate Irfan Qadir, citing the premier’s controversial statement in Parliament regarding the role of the army in the ongoing political crisis.
Former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Yasin Azad told The Express Tribune that the prime minister gave a statement on the floor of house and the parliament’s proceedings could not be challenged in the apex court under Article 68 of the Constitution.
Conversely, lawyer Chaudhry Faisal Hussain believes that parliament’s proceedings could be challenged in the apex court, citing rejection of the National Assembly speaker’s ruling regarding the disqualification of the then former prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, as a precedent.
On Friday, Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk heard Khakwani’s appeal against the registrar office’s objections to his petition. Advocate Qadir appeared before the chief justice and contended that the registrar has no power to decide as to whether a petition is maintainable or not.
“The question of maintainability is to be decided by the Supreme Court in terms of Article 184(3) of the Constitution. In the instant case, the institution officer has assumed upon himself the functions of the Supreme Court,” the PTI leader’s appeal says.
After hearing the arguments, the chief justice set aside the registrar office’s objections and fixed the case for preliminary hearing. Now the case has been fixed on September 29.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2014.