ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court on Thursday gave last opportunity to the federation, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to submit replies on petitions regarding resignations of lawmakers of the two parties from assemblies.
A three-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali took up petitions of former senator of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Zafar Ali Shah, seeking disqualification of the PTI and MQM lawmakers, who had resigned from assemblies in August 2014 and 2015.
Additional Attorney General Rana Waqar sought time for submitting a reply on behalf of the federation while the court was also informed that Hamid Khan, the counsel for the PTI, had sought adjournment in the instant matter.
The court while giving last chance to both the federation and the respondents warned that no further adjournment would be granted.
The petitioner recalled that his petitions have been pending before the court for the last one year, while the respondents were continuously seeking adjournments. He pleaded the court to decide the matter at the earliest.
The chief justice observed that adjournments were being sought from the court but the media was being told that the courts were giving dates after dates. The petitioner said that his petitions were for the advantage of the political system wherein PTI and MQM lawmakers had tendered resignations from the parliament but their resignations have not yet been accepted.
He said that the MQM has not yet filed its reply while the PTI was seeking adjournment. He argued that the federation was intentionally delaying the
matter and the parliament was being run illegally, while the PTI and the MQM lawmakers were getting salaries and enjoying perks and privileges despite tendering resignations.
The chief justice observed that “if they decide the case without hearing the other side then the respondents would say that the court did not hear them”. The hearing was adjourned till November 15.
Petitioner Zafar Ali Shah had also requested the court to direct the Election Commission of Pakistan to accept resignations of the PTI and the MQM lawmakers and declare their seats vacant. The court, however, rejected the plea and ruled that let replies come from respondents. The petitioner has also prayed to declare all PTI MNAs who voluntarily tendered their resignations to the National Assembly speaker as ex-MNAs.
Similarly, in another petition, he has prayed the court to issue directives to secretaries of the upper and lower houses and the secretary of Sindh provincial assembly to produce the resignation record of the MQM members before the court.
The petitioner has made Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Opposition
Leader in National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah, Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani, Leader of the House (Senate) Raja Zafarul Haq, Opposition Leader in Senate Atizaz Ahsan, MQM founder Altaf Hussain, the ECP and MQM Sindh assembly and National Assembly members and senators who tendered their resignations as respondents.