A constitutional bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Peshawar High Court (PHC) to decide on PTI leader Shibli Faraz’s appeal against his disqualification as a senator.
Faraz, along with former opposition leader in the National Assembly, Omar Ayub, first approached the APS. However, it had decided to postpone the arguments sine die (indefinitely), ordering the petitioners to first surrender before the competent court. Later, the PTI leaders challenged the high court’s decision before the SC.
Headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, a five-member CB resumed proceedings on Shibli’s appeal, after Ayub withdrew his during the last hearing on Monday. The bench also included Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Shakeel Ahmad.
Faraz’s appeal challenges the PHC’s decision to indefinitely postpone its hearings on his petition against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) notice removing him as leader of the opposition in the Senate.
PTI Chairman Advocate Gohar Ali Khan appeared as Faraz’s lawyer while Additional Attorney General of Pakistan (AAG) Aamir Rehman represented the state.
“We were expelled from the electoral commission with great shame,” Gohar said as the hearing began. He requested that a suspension order be issued following the ECP’s notification removing his client as a member of the upper house of Parliament, thereby halting the by-election for the vacant seat.
Responding to Justice Rizvi’s question, Gohar replied that by-elections would be held tomorrow for a single Senate seat. Justice Rizvi also wondered why Faraz was seeking a stay order on the by-elections when the PTI had also nominated candidates.
The court later dismissed Gohar’s application, stating that it would not interfere in the by-election process.
A by-election to fill the general Senate seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday). PTI-backed Khurram Zeeshan and Irfan Saleem are contesting against PPP’s Nisar Khan and independent candidates Taj Mohammad Afridi and Abid Khan Yousafzai.
During the hearing, ECP’s counsel argued that the convicts should surrender before a court before seeking redress. Justice Mazhar asked if the PHC had decided on the maintainability of Faraz’s petition, to which Gohar replied that the court had not decided the case.
“There is nothing we can do in this case at this time,” Judge Mandokhail commented. AAG Rehman also claimed that the PHC should have decided the case.
In this case, the ECP lawyer said the PHC had observed that the petitioners were seeking to evade the law.
At this, Justice Mandokhail asked, “Do the petitioners come to the PHC? If they do, why are they not arrested there?”
The AAG responded that the petitioners “should also have gone to the Supreme Court but did not do so.”
Justice Mandokhail pointed out that the case before the court was only about rights, to which AAG Rehman replied: “Rights are directly related to punishment. The petitioner was convicted by an anti-terrorism court.”
Justice Rizvi commented: “The Peshawar High Court wrote 31 pages instead of a short order. It should have just written a paragraph.”
After hearing arguments from all parties, the court set aside PHC’s order adjourning its hearings for an indefinite period and directed the high court to hear the respondents and decide on Faraz’s petition.
Later, the court decided the PTI leader’s appeal.
PHC denies relief
On July 31, Faraz, along with Ayub and other lawmakers, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by an anti-terrorism court in Faisalabad for his role in the riots. He was subsequently disqualified as opposition leader in the Senate under Article 63(1h) (parliamentary disqualification on conviction) of the Constitution.
On August 25, a Faisalabad ATC again sentenced Faraz and Ayub, among others, to 10 years in prison in a case related to an attack on PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah’s residence during the May 9 protests.
The PTI leaders had challenged their disqualifications before the PHC, which initially allowed them interim relief by preventing the ECP from taking action against them.
However, earlier this month, the PHC denied the duo, as well as then MNA Abdul Latif Chitrali, any relief. He ordered them to surrender first before the appropriate court and adjourned the petitions for an indefinite period, allowing the ECP to fill the vacant posts.
The court recalled multiple stay orders issued earlier, directing the ECP, Senate President and National Assembly Speaker not to proceed with their impugned notifications.
Ayub withdrew his appeal to the SC against his denotification as NA opposition leader, claiming that Mehmood Khan Achakzai had been nominated for the position.
Voting for the Haripur (NA-18) seat that fell vacant due to Ayub’s disqualification will be held on November 23, the ECP said. According to Gohar, Ayub’s wife would contest the by-election to fill the seat vacated by her husband.
