• Four MNAs, 24 MPAs sworn in amid PTI-SIC protest
• PHC order barring oaths only applies to KP lawmakers, attorney general tells National Assembly
• Lahore, Sindh high courts do not issue stay orders, notices sent to ECP, political parties

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE/KARACHI: Lawmakers allotted reserved seats that were denied to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) took oath in the national and Pun­jab assemblies, even as PTI-SIC members obje­cted, citing restraining orders by the courts.

However, Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan told the National Assembly that the Peshawar High Court’s stay order only applied to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and nothing prevented members hailing from other provinces from taking their oaths.

Speaker Ayaz Sadiq also informed the NA that he had not received any notice or order from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) or the court regarding the oaths of MNAs on reserved seats.

Four MNAs — Samina Khalid Ghurki and Natasha Daultana on women’s seats and Neelum Kumari and Nelson Azeem on minority seats — were sworn in on Friday.

Following the oaths, PTI leader Omar Ayub objected that the house could not administer oaths to new members as this had been barred by the PHC.

Barrister Gohar Ali Khan mentioned that his party had joined the SIC and deserved the reserved seats allocated for women and minorities.

In response to the PTI’s objection, the attorney general explained that the PHC order specifically applied to the lawmakers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and not Punjab.

Punjab Assembly

Meanwhile, 24 MPAs — including three on minority seats and 21 women — took oath in Punjab.

Before the oath, SIC members chanted slogans and surrounded the speaker’s dias.

Earlier, the assembly secretariat had preponed the session from 3pm to 9am, in an apparent bid to administer oaths before a ruling from the Lahore High Court (LHC) on a petition challenging the allocation of SIC’s reserved seats to other parties.

Leader of the Opposition Rana Aftab Ahmed Khan said the 24 seats were the right of SIC and urged the speaker to run the house in accordance with the rules of business and not administer the oath until a decision by the LHC.

Opposition members would have been in the house even if the session was convened at Fajr prayer time, Mr Ahmed said.

However, his concerns were brushed aside by the speaker, who claimed his steps were in line with the law and Constitution.

Those who took oath on Friday included Tariq Masih, Wasim Anjum, and Basrooji on minority seats, and Sadia Muzaffar, Fiza Maimoona, Abida Bashir, Maqsoodan Bibi, Amira Khan, Somia Ata, Rahat Afza, Rukhsana Shafiq, Tehseen Fawad, Farzana Abbas, Shagufta Faisal, Uzma Butt, Maria Talal, Sajda Naveed, Nasreen Riaz,Afsheen Hasan, Amna Parveen, Shahr Bano, Zeba Ghafoor, Rubina Nazir and Syeda Sameera on women’s seats.

Court proceedings

On Friday, the Lahore and Sindh high courts also took up the matter of the reserved seats. The Sindh High Court issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan, PPP, MQM-P and others on SIC petitions challenging the allocation of reserved seats to other parties.

At the outset of the hearing in Lahore, SIC counsel Ishtiaq A. Khan asked the court to pass an injunctive order restraining members of the assemblies elected on reserved seats from exercising their right to vote in the election for the president, being held today (Saturday).

He pointed out that members in the Punjab Assembly took oath ahead of schedule, while the Sindh and Peshawar high courts had already restrained MPAs on reserved seats from taking oath in their respective assemblies.

However, the additional advocate general argued that the situation in Punjab was different from other provinces.

Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal asked the petitioner’s counsel as if the party approached the ECP against the impugned decision, which he answered in negative.

The judge did not pass any restraining order and sought replies from the respondents by March 13.

Meanwhile, the Sindh High Court has ordered that the votes of those who had been sworn in on reserved seats should not be considered ‘decisive’ for today’s presidential elections.

At the outset of the hearing, the bench confronted the lawyer for the petitioner about the maintainability of the petition, as well as locus standi of the petitioner, and asked why this matter was not agitated before an election tribunal.

Advocate Ali Tahir argued that under Section 154 of the Elections Act, 2017, the tribunal can only make certain limited declarations, which were not the prayers sought through this petition.

He also asserted that the issue posed was purely constitutional in nature, as the candidatures of the returned candidates had not been challenged individually.

Advocate General Sindh Hasan Akbar also turned up during the hearing, maintaining that three MPAs had already taken oath on March 7 and also signed the roll of the provincial assembly therefore.

The AG also argued that these MPAs have the right to cast their votes in the presidential election, scheduled to be held today.

Subject to maintainability of the petition, the bench issued pre-admission notices to the respondents as well as deputy attorney general for March 28.

“While this Court would not like to interfere in the actual process of the Members of the Sindh Provincial Assembly casting their votes to the candidates of their choice for the election of the President of Pakistan scheduled for tomorrow, however, the residual effect of three votes cast from Sindh Provincial Assembly towards the result of the returning presidential candidate not to be treated as decisive vote(s) till the final outcome of this petition,” the bench said in its order.

Wajih Ahmad Sheikh in Lahore also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2024