Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa has said that we will not hear individual cases related to elections. He expressed these remarks while hearing a set of 15 petitions to determine the period of disqualification under Article 62(1)(f), especially in light of the inconsistencies found between two constitutional provisions — one prescribing a lifetime ban while the other proposing a five-year disqualification period. The court will decide whether the 2018 Samiullah Baloch case, or the 2023 amendments to the Elections Act 2017 that reduced the ineligibility period to five years, will prevail. The case of interpretation of Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution is being heard by a 7-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, and comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali. Proceedings are being broadcast live on SC's website and YouTube channel.

The fate of many politicians, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif and Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) founder Jahangir Tareen, hinges on the verdict of the apex court which will determine whether they could participate in the upcoming polls or not. In its hearing on Jan 2, Chief Justice Isa advised against assuming that a particular party was being favoured. Today, Jehangir Tareen’s lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan is presenting his arguments. At the outset of the hearing, the Chief Justice of Pakistan remarked that we have decided that we would not hear the individual case related to the elections, we would hear the case related to the constitutional interpretation, the individual cases related to the elections would be heard in another bench next week and we would form another bench for those cases. Chief Justice Isa said that we issued a public notice in the disqualification case, but no political party became a party. He said that nobody cares about the people.

“If the country is destroyed, no one cares. One mistake in nomination papers, renders a person disqualified for life.” The top judge observed why are we limiting ourselves to only one specific part of the constitution and its language? Why are we ignoring constitutional history, fundamental rights? What remaining rights have been taken away by the insertion of certain new clauses? Only one general put the clause of 62(1)(f), then we all became bound? Presenting his arguments, Makhdoom Ali Khan said that the main case before the Supreme Court is the Samiullah Baloch case of the same court. He said that the Supreme Court Bar Association also raised a question in the Samiullah Baloch case. It should be remembered that in yesterday’s hearing of the case, the petitioner's lawyer Khurram Raza and judicial assistant Uzair Bhandari gave arguments. The Chief Justice of Pakistan had remarked during the hearing that the elections were being held on February 8, no confusion should be spread, and no obstacles should be created in the way of the elections by filing applications every day. He said, "How can the wisdom of 5 gentlemen prevail over the wisdom of a 326-strong parliament, the decision of the parliament should not be looked down upon, where is it written in the constitution that the penalty of disqualification shall be for life?”

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)