PML-N, PPP oppose SIC's plea for allocation of reserved seats
Pakistan
Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa heads the SC full court bench
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday commenced hearing on the case concerning the allocation of reserved seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), Dunya News reported.
Last week, a full court had been formed to hear the case except for the ailing Justice Musarrat Hilali.
Today, a 13-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Munib Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Aminuddin Khan, Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha Malik, Athar Minallah, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Shahid Waheed, Irfan Saadat Khan and Naeem Akhtar Afghan, resumed the hearing.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) opposed the Sunni Ittehad Council's (SIC) petition against the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) verdict that denied it reserved seats for women and minorities.
Earlier in May, the apex court had suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision to allocate SIC's reserved seats to other parties.
Monday's Proceedings
SIC lawyer Faisal Siddiqui and Advocate General for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shah Faisal appeared before the top court.
SIC’s Siddiqui said there were two different petitions filed before the apex court while the advocate general said a contempt of court plea had been filed before the PHC against the provincial government.
The chief justice asked who were beneficiaries in the reserved seats case. Siddiqui said those who gained the extra seats were the beneficiaries.
‘There are 22 seats of the National Assembly and 55 of the provincial assembly,” Siddiqui replied when the CJP asked him about the total number of seats.
Justice Isa then asked Siddiqi about the party-wise breakdown of the additional seats allocated to them. The lawyer then also provided the court with details of such reserved seats in the provincial assemblies.
At this point, the CJP called the ECP counsel to clarify the number of additionally allocated reserved seats for women in the NA. Momand then told the court that the commission’s position was “23 seats” and was confirming the same.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah had, during the proceedings, remarked that the mandate given by the people should be properly represented in parliament.
The court had sent the matter of reserved seats to the Judges Committee to decide whether the case would be heard by the same bench or a larger bench would be constituted.
All parties opposed SIC's plea
On the question of whether any beneficiary parties support the SIC, the counsel for PML-N, PPP, JUI-F and PTI-P came to the rostrum and opposed the SIC's plea.
Is SIC registered with ECP?
CJP Isa asked if SIC was a political party registered with the ECP. Siddiqui replied that it was recognised by the ECP and there was no dispute on it.
BACKGROUND
On March 4, the Election Commission of Pakistan had accepted applications of the opposition parties and decided that the seats in the National and provincial assemblies would not remain vacant and would be allocated by a proportional representation process on the basis of seats won by political parties.
The development resulted in PTI-backed SIC losing a total of 77 reserved seats - 23 National Assembly seats (20 women and 3 minorities), 25 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seats (21 women and 4 minorities), two Sindh Assembly seats (women) and 27 Punjab Assembly seats (24 women and 3 minority).
The Peshawar High Court had also rejected the petitions filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council for the reserved seats of women and minorities. The party had challenged the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) verdict of not allocating the reserved women and minority seats to the SIC.
