ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday observed that parliament had inherent powers to legislate and sought further arguments on a petition seeking to set aside recent amendments to the Elections Act to decide its maintainability.

Chief Justice Athar Minallah observed that amendments to the Elections Act made by the incumbent government had not deprived overseas Pakistanis of their right to vote in general elections.

He advised the petitioner to have faith in parliament as it was the supreme legislative institution of the country which should be respected.

The petitioner, an advocate, contended that the previous government had given the right of vote to overseas Pakistan, but recent amendments to the Elections Act had deprived them of this right.

Justice Minallah remarked that no law had deprived the overseas Pakistan their right to vote in the general elections, adding that it was a complicated issue.

He inquired from the petitioner whether about 9 million overseas Pakistanis would cast their votes in a single constituency.

He asked the petitioner to elaborate as to how the dual national Pakistanis cast their votes in the US presidential elections.

The petitio­ner was, however, unable to respond to the question and he was not aware of the US voting mechanism.

Justice Minallah said that law did not exclude overseas Pakistanis, but the mechanism for casting the votes was yet to be finalised.

The petitioner, however, insisted on his point and said that the Supreme Court’s three-member bench had directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to devise a system for overseas Pakistanis to vote in the general elections.

The court reminded him that the parliament had restored the original section of the Elections Act about overseas Pakistanis’ voting rights, and through the recent amendment the parliament had further elaborated the modes operandi for voting by overseas Pakistanis.

Justice Minallah observed that prima facie the previous amendm­ent was not in consonance with the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court.

The IHC chief justice remarked that the court was not mandated to settle the criteria for overseas Pakis­tanis’ voting as it was the responsibility of relevant institutions.

The court adjourned the hearing till June 3.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2022