ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah observed on Tuesday that constitutional courts were already overburdened and they were not for settling political disputes as the relevant forum was parliament or such matters might be resolved through political dialogue.

He made the observation while hearing administrative objections to petitions filed by lawmakers of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) seeking disqualification of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

Though Justice Minallah removed the objections raised by the IHC registrar office to the petitions, he directed the petitioners’ counsel to satisfy the court that this matter pertained to the larger public interest since the petitions had been filed under Article 199 of the Constitution that empowers high courts to take up any matter to enforce the fundamental rights in exceptional circumstance.

The petitions have been filed by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Mohammad Usman Dar and PTI legislator in the Sindh Assembly Khurram Sher Zaman. They sought a court declaration that Mr Zardari was neither righteous nor sagacious in terms of Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution and also Section 231 of the Elections Act, 2017 and, therefore, not qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of the National Assembly.

Directs PTI lawmakers’ counsel to argue on maintainability of petitions seeking Zardari’s disqualification

The petitions also sought a directive for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to declare that Mr Zardari was not qualified to be elected or chosen or to officiate as or exercise powers of the “party head” within the meaning of Article 63A of the Constitution, including the offices of PPP-Parliamentarian president and PPP co-chairperson.

The ECP, National Assembly’s secretary and Mr Zardari are respondents in the petitions.

During the preliminary hearing, Justice Minallah asked the petitioners’ counsel to explain as to why their pleas should be given preferential treatment and heard on a priority basis. “The political disputes should be dealt at the parliament or other political forums,” he suggested, adding that this was a time for the lawmakers to strengthen parliament. A parliamentary committee might be constituted to examine this issue, the judge said.

When Justice Minallah observed that the registrar office had validly raised the objection that the matter pertained to the ECP, the counsel argued that since the petitioners had sought Mr Zardari’s disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) and the Sindh High Court also adjudicated upon in identical matter, the ECP was not a relevant forum.

Justice Minallah then overruled the administrative objections, but directed the counsel to argue on the maintainability of the petitions and satisfy the court on invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction in this matter.

“You people know there is huge backlog and numerous petitions are pending for adjudication; filing of such political cases hindered the disposal of routine matters. There are several people imprisoned and we need to examine their cases as well,” he remarked.

The court pointed out that if the ECP was not the relevant forum, such applications might be filed before investigation agencies instead of invoking Article 199 of the Constitution and seeking such relief from the high court.

The PTI leaders in their petitions accused Mr Zardari of indulging in “intentional and wilful concealment”, suppression and non-disclosure in the June 6, 2018 nomination papers filed to contest the election from the NA-213 constituency, of an apartment with a current market value in excess of $729,240 (Rs102 million) on the Upper East Side of New York City in the Borough of Manhattan, US.

This immoveable property, the petitions alleged, had been owned and held by Mr Zardari under his name since 2007 as substantiated and proved through a number of documents.

The petitioners claimed that property tax documents proved that Mr Zardari had been the owner of the apartment not just in June 2017 but also on the date of filing of these petitions. The PPP leader also allegedly suppressed an asset called parking space describes as Unit 30A, Block 1483, Lot 1058 located at 524 East 72nd Street in the Borough of Manhattan, they said.

The only immoveable property outside Pakistan as mentioned in the nomination papers of the former president was an open plot in Dubai (UAE), the petitions said, adding that this was an intentional and dishonest violation of legal obligation under the Elections Act.

“On account of untruthful declarations, untruthful solemn affirmations and false statement of assets, the PPP leader is not qualified to be and is in fact liable to be disqualified from being member of parliament under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution and Section 231 of the Elections Act,” the petitions said.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2019