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A seven-judge Supreme Court bench on Tuesday commenced hearing the issue of lifetime disqualification of parliament members.
Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, the bench comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali took up the case.
The proceedings are being broadcast live on the Supreme Court’s website.
The bench will determine once and for all the raging debate on whether aspirants disqualified under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution could contest polls in light of the amendments in the Elections Act 2017.
The law, which sets the precondition for a member of parliament to be “sadiq and ameen” (honest and righteous), is the same provision under which former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified in the Panama Papers case. Ex-premier Imran Khan was also disqualified under the same article in the Toshakhana case last year.
The legal dilemma arose in view of a 2018 Supreme Court judgment when it shut the doors of parliament permanently for politicians disqualified under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution through a unanimous verdict, ruling that such ineligibility was for life. The verdict was issued by former chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, ex-CJP Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ahsan and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah.
But on June 26, 2023, an amendment was brought in the Elections Act 2017, specifying that the period of the electoral disqualification will be for five years, not for life.
The issue of electoral disqualification cropped up in the apex court again last month while hearing an election dispute.
Since the amendment to the Election Act has not been challenged, this matter may create confusion in the upcoming elections whether to rely on the SC judgment or the Elections Act. Such a situation is not conducive to democracy, the CJP had observed previously.
At the outset of the hearing, Saqib Jillani, the lawyer for petitioner Imam Bakhsh Qaiserani came to the rostrum.
When inquired about his stance, the AGP responded that he wished the court to revisit the law as there were “certain contradictions” in a previous judgment of Samiullah Baloch.
Stating that he supported the amendment limiting the disqualification to five years, Awan urged the court to also review the matter of Nawaz’s lifetime disqualification.
The CJP then asked who were the respondents in favour of lifetime disqualification, to which petitioner Sanaullah Baloch, advocate Khurram Raza and Usman Karim responded in the affirmative.
However, Qaiserani’s counsel said he was against it, supporting the AGP’s argument.
Awan then read out an SC order from 11 Dec 2023.
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