ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday separated the appeal of Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Qasim Khan Suri, a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader from Balochistan, from over a dozen other election petitions.

Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, the Supreme Court took up a set of 17 appeals against election tribunal. One of the appeals was moved by Mr Suri to challenge his de-seating by the tribunal through its Sept 27, 2019 order, which had been suspended 10 days later by the apex court.

The court decided to separate the appeal of the NA deputy speaker after senior counsel Naeem Bukhari highlighted that the case of his client was different from other petitions, because his client had questioned the verification of election-related documents by the oath commissioner.

The apex court, however, decided to separate the petition with the observation that it considered the appeal not only on legal points but also on merit.

The case is expected to be taken up after two weeks.

Earlier on Oct 7, 2019 the SC suspended not only the tribunal’s order about de-seating of Mr Suri after the election result had been challenged by his opponent Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani but also the subsequent de-notification by the Election Commission of Pakistan as member of the National Assembly from the NA-265 (Quetta-II) constituency.

The court had also restrained the ECP from issuing election schedule for the constituency.

In his appeal, Mr Suri pleaded that he had secured 25,973 out of 118,153 votes, whereas his opponent Mr Raisani had bagged only 20,089 votes, indicating the marked difference of 5,585 votes. He argued the tribunal’s conclusion that a difference of 5,585 votes was ‘meagre’ reflected alleged bias on its part.

SCBA disapproves of campaign against IHC CJ

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court Bar Association took exception to a social media campaign against the Islamabad High Court chief justice over his order to restrain the Federal Investigation Agency from making any arrest under the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).

“The legal fraternity will not allow anyone to sabotage the dignity and reputation of our institutions, especially the judiciary, come what may,” said Mohammad Ahsan Bhoon of the SCBA in a strong-worded statement.

He condemned the campaign launched by “unknown elements” against the CJ with “complicity and connivance of the government machinery” in reaction to his observations against the Peca ordinance.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2022