ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court will hear several politically-important cases next week, including a petition by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) seeking a probe into the alleged rigging in the February 8 general elections and the trials of civilians in military courts.
The seven-member Constitutional Bench, led by Justice Aminuddin Khan, will hear the PTI’s appeal against the Registrar Office’s objections to the petition on December 9, according to the cause list issued here on Friday.
The other members of the Constitutional Bench are Justice Jamal Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Hassan Rizvi, Justice Masarrat Hilali, Justice Naeem Afghan and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan.
A total five petitions are listed for hearing on December 9. Usually, a single apex court judge hears the appeals against Registrar’s objections in his chamber but this matter has been listed for hearing by the bench.
During the hearing of reserved seats case by the full court, Justice Athar Minallah had repeatedly questioned about the pendency of the petition, seeking a probe into the alleged rigging in February 8 general elections.
In that case, the majority judges held that the PTI was entitled to the reserved seats of National and provincial assemblies. However, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif expressed apprehension that new chief justice might announce an audit of February 8 elections.
There had been a debate among the legal circles as to what the Constitutional Bench would do in this case, as Article 225 of the Constitution clearly stated that election disputes could only be decided by tribunals.
Previously, the then Rawalpindi commissioner had also levelled allegations of rigging in the elections but no one, including the then chief justice of Pakistan, Qazi Faez Isa, invited him to prove his claims.
The PTI and its founder Imran Khan had filed the joint petition through their lawyer, Hamid Khan, requesting the judicial commission to probe into the alleged rigging in the February 2024 general elections.
The petition named the federation of Pakistan, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) as respondents.
“That a judicial commission, consisting of serving Supreme Court judges holding no bias towards anyone, be formed to inquire, audit, and examine the manner and process of the general elections of February 8, 2024, and the developments that took place thereafter of compiling false and fraudulent results rendering winners into losers and losers into winners,” the petition stated.
It further requested the top court to immediately suspend all consequential acts of forming governments at the federal level and in Punjab at the provincial level, until the results of the judicial probe were made public.
“There were obvious and apparent developments on the 8th and 9th of February 2024, witnessed by the whole country, that have completely exposed this fraudulent game of turning losers into winners,” the PTI contended in its petition.
Military courts
The cause list of the Constitutional Bench for the upcoming judicial week showed that the bench would also hear two suo motu cases on December 9 – one regarding the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif and the other on deaths of children in Mithi, Sindh.
On December 10, a petition against the formation of a judicial commission on the May 9, 2023 violence and the trial of civilians in military courts has been scheduled for hearing. The bench would also hear 1,178 tax cases on that day.
Besides, the bench would hear on December 10 an application for transfer of PTI founder from Adiala Jail to a Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Jail due to security concerns. The application was filed by a petitioner named Muhammad Qayyum Khan.
The Registrar’s Office had raised objections to the petition. However, the seven-member constitutional bench would hear the petition along with the registrar’s objections, according to the cause list.
A phone tapping case which was pending since 1993, has been scheduled for hearing on December 11. The PTI founder’s petition against Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja had been fixed for hearing on December 11.
The case of formation of a judicial commission to investigate the February 8, 2024 general elections had also been fixed for hearing on December 11, according to the cause list.
