Govt puts on brave face as Azam Tarar sees 'no threat' to govt
Pakistan
Says the government has support of 209 members in National Assembly
Says Articles 51 and 106 have been rewritten instead of interpretation
Relief was given to PTI despite not being party in the case
Government will review the SC verdict
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Federal Minister for Law Azam Nazeer Tarar asserted that the Supreme Court verdict posed no threat to the government having a majority of 209 members in the National Assembly.
He provided his stance on Friday's apex court verdict allowing the PTI reserved seats across the assemblies after annulling the Peshawar High Court (PHC) decision.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Azam Tarar boasted that the government in the Centre and province possessed majority and there would be no key difference in the party position in the National Assembly.
He also said the verdict wouldn’t affect the Balochistan and Sindh assemblies as the PTI had only few seats there.
Also read: Reserved seats: SC tips the scales in PTI's favour in landmark verdict
The apex court's brief verdict stated that the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) demanded relief and the party requested for the reserved seats, he added. However, he alleged, relief was given to the PTI.
The ECP and other institutions would review the SC verdict, Tarar said. He questioned how a party which didn’t consider non-Muslims its members, could take those reserved seats for them.
He said the Articles 51 and 106 were rewritten instead of interpretation, stressing that court had the mandate of interpretation. He added new additions were made instead of interpretation of Articles 51 and 106, however, he said he respected court verdict.
He claimed that the PTI independent members didn’t move any forum.
Tarar believed that the apex court verdict had raised many questions and he could not disclose his opinion until a detailed verdict. He believed that the judgements which didn’t stir debates were good. This verdict would be subject to discussion and was controversial.
He alleged that the SC verdict was against the spirit of the constitution. "I am unable to comprehend which law was taken into consideration for this brief verdict,” he wondered.
The law minister stated, “We (lawyers) are trained that judges make judgements as per constitution and law but it’s painful to see verdicts being passed on other considerations.”
The Supreme Court overturned the decision of the Peshawar High Court to deprive the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of the reserved seats in the National Assembly.
A 13-member bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, announced the verdict with a majority of 8-5.
“[The] withdrawal of election symbol cannot disqualify a political party from elections,” the court declared in its verdict. “The PTI was and is a political party,” it affirmed.
This has resulted in a major political as well as legal victory for the PTI.
