IHC seeks opinions of NA speaker, Senate chief in pleas for Zardari’s disqualification

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday took up petitions seeking disqualification of former president Asif Ali Zardari as a member of the National Assembly (NA).

An IHC bench, headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah, was hearing the petitions filed by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Youth Affairs Usman Dar and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA from Karachi Khurram Sher Zaman, who sought disqualification of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Zardari.

Over the course of the hearing, the PTI lawmaker’s lawyer contended before the court that an election tribunal could disqualify a candidate after the election.

At this, the chief justice questioned whether the person disqualified by the tribunal doesn’t have the right to go to the court against the verdict.

“Why should the court meddle in unnecessary matters?” he questioned and asked the council to satisfy the court in this regard. This court disqualified a foreign minister but the Supreme Court overturned his disqualification, the judge said.

The court regards elected representatives, the IHC judge said and directed the counsel to submit documents regarding the disqualification.

“Why should Parliament not deal with this matter without the court’s intervention?” he asked. “There are parliamentary committees that handle these matters.”

The IHC CJ remarked even the election of a prime minister, who is elected by members of Parliament, is challenged here. “When the Election Commission of Pakistan can look into the matter, why should the court intervene?” he observed.

The bench summoned the Senate chairman and National Assembly speaker’s opinion on the matter through the court’s registrar and summoned the attorney general to satisfy the court in this regard at the next hearing on April 6.