LAHORE: Lawmakers from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday filed an intra-court appeal in the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the court’s Friday’s decision directing the National Assembly speaker to administer the oath of the chief minister to Hamza Shehbaz.
In the appeal, filed by 17 MPAs, through Azhar Siddique, federal and provincial governments and Shehbaz were nominated as respondents.
In their petition, the petitioners said that police had entered the Punjab Assembly building on the election day on Shehbaz’s order; that the PTI MPAs were encouraged to go against the party lines, and the LHC was not authorised to interfere in the parliamentary proceedings.
The petitioners went on to say that the decision given by a single bench of the high court was unconstitutional, and that harsh words were used in it against both President Arif Alvi and Punjab Governor Omar Sarfaraz Cheema.
“Hamza’s petition for the oath-taking should have been heard by at least a seven-member bench rather than a single bench of the LHC,” read the appeal.
It was argued that both the president and the governor were not answerable to any court.
“Therefore, it is prayed to the larger bench of the LHC to declare single bench’s verdict null and void,” the petition added.
