On what grounds PM should be disqualified? Asks Justice Osmani
The court has nothing to do with the PM's eligibility or ineligibility, says Justice Khawaja
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News): Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmani on Wednesday asked that on what grounds should the PM be declared ineligible when according to the law whoever sacked for slandering judiciary or Pakistan Army would be ineligible.
Usmani remarked this while hearing a petition seeking ineligibility of Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif in a bench of three headed by the Chief Justice (CJ) of Pakistan Jawwad S Khawaja. He asked counsel for Ishaq Khan Khakwani, Attorney General Irfan Qadir that which court has declared the PM a criminal and that if he wanted Nawaz to face trial in the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP). He further said that a thief should not be a member of the Parliament of Pakistan and that the law also stated that a person leading an extravangant life could not be a part of the parliament.
The CJ said that the court has nothing to do with the PM’s eligibility or ineligibility and that even if 50 members were ineligible, the court’s verdict would strictly have been as per the law. He also said that according to the law, matter of slandering the army was not a ‘political’ question and that tagging it as a ‘political’ question would not let the judiciary off the responsibility.
Qadir said that the CJ’s application for separation from the bench was not being heard, in response to which, Khawaja said that Qadir did not want to see him as head of the bench whereas the other applicant, Gohar Nawaz Sindhu demanded the CJ to be part of the bench.
