AJK Supreme Court halts interim relief for PTI in registration dispute till July 2

MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court on Monday suspended the operation of a high court order that had granted interim relief to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in its dispute with the Election Commission over party registration, keeping the matter on hold until July 2.

The June 23 order of the AJK High Court had directed the Election Commission to provisionally register PTI as a political party. That ruling had, in effect, put on hold the commission’s May 16 decision rejecting the party’s application for registration.

The Supreme Court’s short order was issued by a three-member bench headed by senior puisne judge Syed Shahid Bahar and comprising Justice Sardar Muhammad Ejaz and Justice Khalid Rasheed Chaudhry. The interim relief was granted on an application moved by the Election Commission under Rules 1 and 2 of Order VI of the Supreme Court Rules, 1978, during the pendency of its petition for leave to appeal against the high court’s June 23 ruling.

The ex parte ad interim order was passed by Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram on the Election Commission’s plea. PTI counsel Yasir Safeer Mughal also appeared in the matter.