PPP registration case: Judge recuses himself from hearing

ISLAMABAD:

Islamabad High Court judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui on Thursday recused himself from hearing a case regarding registration of a faction as Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) with the same name.

Earlier PPP secretary-general Jahangir Badar raised an objection over the presence of Justice Siddiqui on the bench saying he had remained affiliated with a political party before becoming IHC judge. He also contested elections against a PPP candidate, hence Justice Siddiqui should not be a part of the division bench, he contended.

In his reply, Justice Siddiqui said that he has taken oath as per the constitution but if a party in the case has objection over his presence, he can separate himself from the bench.

The bench referred the case to IHC chief justice with a request to constitute a new bench and assign the case to it. The issue surfaced during the hearing of the case before a two-judge bench comprising Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi and Justice Siddiqui.

Naheed Khan, a close aide of the slain Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, had filed the petition in the court seeking registration of her faction as Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). She had also moved the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to register her faction with the same name before the general elections.

Khan had also submitted a list of office-bearers of her proposed party along with the application asking the ECP to allocate the symbol of ‘arrow’ or ‘sword’ to her faction.

The ECP, however, allotted the ‘arrow’ to the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P) in March 2013.

Once a key figure in the Benazir government, Khan is now among the disgruntled members after the former President Asif Ali Zardari took charge of the party following Bhutto’s assassination in 2007.

The previous ruling party is registered with the name of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P) and has been taking part in the elections.

Khan told media after the hearing that the case was being heard by the bench for the last many months and no one raised objection. Now when it is about to be concluded, she said, they have raised an objection on the bench.

A new bench will now hear the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2015.