The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to move the Supreme Court to challenge the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) ruling regarding the oath of KP Assembly lawmakers elected on reserved seats.
“We will challenge Peshawar High Court’s verdict in the Supreme Court,” KP Law Minister Aftab Alam said in a statement, adding that senior lawyers Salman Akram Raja, Hamid Khan, and Faisal Siddiqui were included in the legal panel. Alam said that a “writ petition” has been prepared which will be filed after two days. He clarified that the oath of members of the provincial assembly (MPAs) elected on reserved seats for minorities and women will not be administered until the top court’s verdict comes in on this matter.
Subsequently, the provincial government will hold consultations in a cabinet meeting today regarding the expected postponement of the Senate election. The provincial law minister said that the government could also have approached the court over the expected delay in the Upper House poll, however, the the cabinet will make a final decision. Pointing towards Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which merged with Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) after the February nationwide polls, Alam termed it “injustice” to ignore a political party with highest number of seats during the allocation of reserved seats.
He alleged that injustice was done with the Imran-founded party on reserved seats issue just like unjust moves of stripping the PTI of its election symbol. Yesterday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) signalled to postpone Senate election – which is scheduled to be held on April 2 – in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa amid ongoing issue regarding oath-taking of the lawmakers on reserved seats in the province.
