18th amendment: SC dismisses Federations objections

The Supreme Court has rejected the objections raised by the Federation regarding the formation of a full bench to hear the cases challenging some clauses of the 18th amendment on Monday.The same bench would hear the cases. The court would likely to announce the ruling after 1:00pm today, but it deferred it. During the course of hearing, Federations counsel Dr Abdul Basit said that the bench is not complete, contending that Justice Zahid Hussain should also be a part of the bench.He said argued that suspension of Justice Zahid is against the courts verdict. On being asked by the court about name of the person who objected over the bench composition, Basit named Salman Farroqui, Presidents chief of staff. The court asked whether the president is authorized to raise objections. The CJ said that his inclusion in the bench should not be objected, and added that the case is of significant importance and as such the bench composition is justified. Upon this, the court ordered the Federations counsel to submit the objections in writing. On the other hand, Salman Farroqui denied having conversed with Dr Basit on the issue of bench ever.