The ruling parties – Pakistan Mulsim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) – on Saturday demanded the constitution of the full Supreme Court to hear The suo motu notice took note of the apparent delay in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa general elections, a private TV channel reported.
The plea – made through Farooq H Naek, Kamran Murtaza and Masoor Usman Awan – also sought the disqualification of Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi.
The petition filed on Saturday cited the violation of Article 10A of the right of the parties concerned, while also noting that Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail said that referring the matter to the Chief Justice for taking suo motu under Article 184(3) was inappropriate, who ruled that action “is not justified”.
The high court judge also raised important constitutional questions on how to exercise suo motu powers under the aforesaid article, the petition said.
The petition said that the concerned parties, who received notices from the apex court, appeared before the court a day earlier through their counsels and sought the “exemption” of Justice Naqvi and Justice Ahsan through a joint statement from “hearing any matter concerning PML (N ), PPPP and JUI (Pakistan) and their leadership and SMC No. 1 of 2023 and CP No. 1 of 2023 and 2 of 2023.”
He added that the circumstances – as recorded in the chief justice’s note – have raised many questions of immense legal, constitutional and public importance.
The parties, therefore, sought reconstitution of the bench to hear the writ petitions and stated that they would do so in the interest of justice and fairness and to enhance public confidence in the Supreme Court of the land.
Meanwhile, the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council (KPBC) demanded the constitution of a full bench of the court to hear the poll issue.
They have also raised concerns over the disqualification of senior Puisne judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa and senior judge Justice Sardar Tariq Masood from the nine-member bench.
“This association believes that the power of fixing the roasting and the case should not rest solely with the Supreme Court of Pakistan,” said a statement issued by the SHCBA. Both the bar association and the bar council asked Justice Naqvi and Justice Ahsan to resign from the bench. “They should not remain part of the bench for the hearing of this important matter,” the Sindh Bar Association statement said, while KPBC said “there have been serious objections against them from different quarters, including the remarks made by some of the sitting judges of the SC”.
The SHBCA also called on the country’s chief justice to “take appropriate steps to redress the adverse impression especially in political cases”. gave the martial law regime the right to make amendments to the constitution. “That for important constitutional cases, the constitution of specific courts for specific cases should be avoided to restore the trust and confidence of the masses in the courts,” the KP Bar Council said in a statement.
