PTI-SIC reserved seats
\nInformation Minister Attaullah Tarar stresses discourse on 29-page dissenting note written by top court\u2019s two judges
\nlahore
\nIn continuation of the reserved seat saga involving the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), the federal government has expressed concerns over the delay in the issuance of the detailed verdict of the Supreme Court\u2019s July 12 ruling while calling for a discourse on the dissenting note of two judges.
\n\u201cThe detailed verdict [of July 12 verdict] hasn\u2019t been issued even after 15 days,\u201d Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said while talking to the media in Lahore on Sunday.
\nThe minister\u2019s remarks refer to the apex court\u2019s last month\u2019s ruling wherein it had declared the PTI eligible for reserved seats of women and minorities in the assemblies after overturning the decisions of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
\nThe ruling not only paved the way for the Imran Khan-founded party\u2019s return to the parliament but also effectively deprived the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led coalition government of its two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. Since the top court\u2019s ruling, the ECP has notified 39 out of 80 Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) as PTI members along with 93 lawmakers in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh assemblies as \u201creturned candidates\u201d of the former ruling party.
\nHowever, the PML-N and its key ally the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have filed review pleas on the full court\u2019s 8-5 majority order. In its review plea, the PML-N has questioned if reserved seats could be granted to a political party that had not submitted a party list within the prescribed time, whether a political party can be given reserved seats whose candidates have not even filed nomination papers within the time provided by the ECP and if independents could even join a political party which did not win a single general seat in parliament.
\nMeanwhile, the Bilawal Bhutto-led PPP has maintained that the PTI is not entitled to the reserved seats as it didn\u2019t claim them in the first place.
\nDiscourse on dissenting note
\nReferring to the 29-page dissenting note written by Justices Amin-Ud-Din Khan and Naeem Akhtar Afghan, who were part of the full court bench, Tarar said that the issues raised in the said document should be duly discussed.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s imperative that the points raised by the [two] judges are [duly] answered,\u201d the minister said.
\nThe aforesaid judges\u2019 dissenting note pointed out that the SIC did not contest the February 8 nationwide polls as a political party, whereas, its chairman had also taken part as an independent candidate in the electoral event.
\nThey also opined that for creating and carving out relief in these proceedings for PTI, the court \u201cwould have to travel beyond the jurisdiction conferred by Articles 175 and 185 of the Constitution and would also have to suspend Articles 51, 106 and 63 of the Constitution and section 104 of the Elections Act, 2017 along with the relevant rules\u201d.
\n\u201cWe would also have to insert instead of Articles 51, 106 and Section 104 (mentioned supra). Such articles and sections therein in substitution and in consonance with the relief granted through the majority judgement\u201d read the dissenting note.
\nJustices Khan and Afghan also highlighted the review petitions filed in the SC may be rendered infructuous due to delay in the detailed verdict of the July 12 order.
\nBuilding his argument on the judges\u2019 take on the said issue, the information minister questioned if the apex court\u2019s ruling would be used as a justification to allow floor crossing and change of political affiliation.
\nClaiming that the SC ruling derogated from constitutional provisions, Tarar lamented the legal and constitutional ambiguity and said that if one-sided relief is granted it would deal a blow to the Constitution and the law of the land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PTI-SIC reserved seats Information Minister Attaullah Tarar stresses discourse on 29-page dissenting note written by top court\u2019s two judges lahore In continuation of the reserved seat saga involving the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), the federal government has expressed concerns over the delay in the issuance of the detailed verdict of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-422807","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n