Politics

Supreme Court serves notice to Imran Khan in ECP contempt case

Published

1 year ago

Farwa

Supreme Court adjourns the case hearing for the next two weeks.
SC also seeks responses from Fawad Chaudhry and Asad Umar.
ECP alleges Khan levelled “baseless allegations” against commisison.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Tuesday served notices to PTI Chairman Imran Khan and his aides — Fawad Chaudhry and Asad Umar — in contempt of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) case.

A three-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ayesha A Malik, and Justice Athar Minallah heard the case filed by the ECP to transfer all its contempt cases against PTI leaders from different high courts to a single one.

The election commission has accused the ex-premier of levelling “baseless allegations” against the ECP and its chief in his addresses on July 18, 21, 27, August 4 and 10.

Today’s hearing

During the course of proceedings, the bench remarked that the election commission requested to transfer the cases pending in different high courts to one high court.

The ECP was of the opinion that they should prepare for local and general elections or had to fight cases in different courts, it added.

The chief justice said that the ECP also presented a judicial precedent of merging cases with the order of the Supreme Court. The Election Commission is relying on Article 186A, he added.

He asked the ECP counsel whether there was a precedent of the Supreme Court to merge the cases of different high courts. At this, the lawyer said that the top court ordered the consolidation of income tax cases pending in various high courts in 1999.

(L tor R) PTI leaders Asad Umar, chairperson Imran Khan, and Fawad Chaudhry. — AFP/File

Upon this, the CJP said that clubbing of cases pending in different high courts must have the same point of law. He asked who were the petitioners in contempt of election commission cases in the high courts.

The counsel replied that PTI leaders Khan, Chaudhry, and Umar had filed cases against the election commission in the different high courts.

Justice Malik said that the Supreme Court, in the PEMRA cases, had declared that the high court cases would continue and would not be clubbed.

But Justice Minallah said that the Supreme Court had clubbed all the cases of the high courts in the Hajj assistants case.

The ECP counsel said that cases of the same nature would have conflicting judgments in different high courts.

Justice Malik said that the apex court would decide when the conflicting decisions are challenged before the Supreme Court.

The Chief Justice asked under which constitutional authority did the Supreme Court order clubbing of cases pending in the different high courts.

The counsel then said that the injunctions of the high courts in the contempt of election commission case had also been challenged in the Supreme Court.

The court directed the ECP petitions against the injunction of the high courts should also be fixed with this case.

Subsequently, the hearing of the case was adjourned for two weeks.

Petition

The ECP, in its petition, had stated that it had issued contempt notices to PTI chief Khan as well as other party leaders, including Umar and Chaudhry in the months of August and September.

However, these notices were challenged in high courts.

The ECP noted that under Section 10 of the Election Act, 2017, it had the authority to initiate contempt proceedings being a constitutional body.

The commission further stated that Khan and Chaudhry had challenged the contempt notices before the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench, while Asad Umar had challenged it before the Sindh High Court.

Another one was challenged before the Islamabad High Court.

Latest News

Sheikh Rashid claims he doesn’t communicate with the PTI’s founder or any other leader.

Published

2 days ago

Farwa

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the president of the Pakistan Awami Muslim League and former interior minister, claims not to be in contact with the founder or any other leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

In an interview with media outside the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi, he said that only Shibli Faraz was qualified to discuss talks between the PTI and the Establishment.

Regarding the deputy prime minister position, he stated that Pakistan’s constitution did not contain such a clause. He chided that “only the Jati Umra constitution offers the slot of deputy prime minister.”

He predicted that Pakistan would have an economic crisis within the next two months. “Industrialists are already facing tough conditions and now growers are up in arms,” he claimed.

He claimed that the purchasing of wheat had not yet started and that the general public’s financial situation was appalling.

The former federal minister reaffirmed that prisoners should be released from custody if they are innocent and unrelated to crimes.

He requested that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) be made aware of the wheat scam right now.

The following two months would be critical for Pakistani politics, thus he asked the administration to reconsider its policy.

Latest News

“I never left PTI,” says Fawad Chaudhry, doing a U-turn.

Published

2 days ago

Farwa

Fawad Chaudhry, a former federal minister, claimed that he remained a member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Speaking to the media outside Rawalpindi’s Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Tuesday, the former minister claimed that the current administration lacks credibility because of its stance on the Form-47.

The senior lawmaker declared, “If Maulana Fazl ur Rehman and PTI join hands, the government cannot even last for three months.”

He went on to say that an election that was manipulated led to the formation of the administration.

“We want to bring down the political temperature because we are going through a difficult time,” Fawad stated.

The former minister claimed he had not yet shared his narrative because he would do so at the appropriate moment.

“I’m very happy to have met all of my pals today. May we all go forward towards a typical circumstance,” he said in closing.

The prominent politician had previously stated that she left PTI following the bloodshed on May 9 of last year.

In a news conference last year, Fawad Chaudhry, the senior vice president of PTI, announced his departure from the organisation and his intention to take a sabbatical from politics.

Latest News

The nomination of Ishaq Dar as deputy prime minister raises concerns.

Published

3 days ago

Farwa

A lot of doubts have been raised by Ishaq Dar, the foreign minister, being appointed deputy prime minister.

No reference to the Constitution, regulations, or any other law was mentioned in the Cabinet Division’s notification of the appointment.

What powers Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif used to designate Ishaq Dar as deputy prime minister has come under scrutiny in light of this.

There are questions about the legal foundation for the deputy prime minister’s nomination as it appears from the notification’s phrasing that rules for the position have not yet been established, according to insiders.

Likewise, the announcement is vague about the deputy prime minister’s proposed authority.

Deputy prime minister would be purely symbolic, according to government sources, and would not be authorized to carry out prime ministerial duties. In Pakistan, the deputy prime minister has previously been nominated.

The PPP administration appointed Chaudhry Parvez Elahi as deputy prime minister.

Observe that Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar was appointed deputy prime minister on Sunday with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s consent; the Cabinet Division formally announced the appointment.

Dar holds the position of Pakistan’s fourth deputy prime minister. Previous appointments to the position of deputy prime ministers included Parvez Elahi, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and Begum Nusrat Bhutto.