ISLAMABAD - A Division Bench of Islamabad High Court Thursday served notices on the federation of Pakistan and Election Commission of Pakistan in a writ petition seeking to annul the Presidential Ordinance that limited the right of vote for FATA's Members of National Assembly.
The bench comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamir Farooq issued the notices after parliamentary leader of FATA MNAs, G G Jamal moved the court against the ordinance.
However, the IHC bench turned down petitioner's request to suspend the ordinance or to stay Senate elections, and issued notices to the respondents directing them to submit their reply within one-week.
Shafqat Abbasi Advocate, the counsel for G G Jamal contended before the court that despite his request to the Printing Corporation of Pakistan, he hasn’t yet got the gazette notification of the ordinance. However, he attached clipping of various newspapers with his petition as a proof of the ordinance.
The bench observed how the court could issue directives on an ordinance that is not before the court. The counsel for G G Jamal maintained before the court that the ordinance was issued at mid night and it is discriminatory towards the FATA's MNAs to curtail their right of vote.
Advocate Abbasi adopted before the court that the ordinance was issued in a hasty manner and was not discussed on any forum. He added that the ordinance is violation of FATA MNAs' right of vote and also violated transparency and fairness.
In a separate matter, the same IHC bench issued notices to Senate candidate from FATA Abdur Raziq Afridi and the ECP after petitioners Muhammad Iqbal and Imtiaz Afridi contended that Afridi is a tax defaulter of Rs200 million. The petitioners appealed to the court to direct the ECP to reject candidature of Abdur Raziq Afridi. Their counsel Barrister Goher Ali Khan contended before the court that Cantonment Board Peshawar through a letter dated February 26, 2015 had apprised the ECP that Afridi is a defaulter of Rs200 million on account of property tax.
The counsel argued that despite this fact, the ECP accepted his candidature. Therefore, Barrister Goher prayed to the court that the respondent might be stopped from contesting elections. At this juncture, the IHC bench said how it could stop the election when polling is going on. At this, Barrister Goher said that the court could direct the ECP not to notify respondent's victory till adjudication of this matter.
Later, the court issued the notices to the said respondents, directing them to submit their reply within fortnight.