ISLAMABAD: Awn Chau­dhry, an active member of Istekham-i-Pakistan Party (IPP), on Wednesday challenged the refusal by the Supreme Court’s registrar to entertain his petition in which he sought a ban on the PTI.

In his challenge before the Supreme Court, Mr Chaudhry pleaded that his petition be entertained after setting aside the registrar office decision of July 10 to return it.

On July 10, the Supreme Court’s office had raised administrative objections that the petitioner had not specified how his petition relates to public interest and deserves to be taken up under Article 184/3 of the Constitution. Furthermore, the office said, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif cannot be named as respondents in the case.

To substantiate the maintainability of his petition, his counsel Khawaja Shamsul Islam cited a 2021 Supreme Court judgement in the case of Justice Qazi Faez Isa, in which Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial had held that every holder of a public office was answerable to the public. Likewise, in the 2023 Supreme Court Bar Association judgement, the apex court had held that in terms of Article 17(2) of the Constitution, it was the fundamental right of citizens to form or be a member of a political party.

The petition alleged that the activities of PTI chairman were against the sovereignty of Pakistan, and the basic structure of society had already been eroded by his hateful speeches and activities, especially on May 9.

The appeal argued that the defence minister wrote a letter to the CJP on March 24, which is also available on the court record. In the letter, the attention of CJP was drawn to shocking sta­te­ments containing serious allegations levelled against the armed forces.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2023