Islamabad (Web Desk): Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar on Friday said that the Supreme Court's (SC) judgment in reserved seats case poses no threat to the government as it has a clear majority of 209 members in the House.
Addressing a press conference, Azam Nazeer Tarar said that the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) didn’t recognize non-Muslims as its members, adding that legal action would be decided in consultation with political parties.
He questioned that what about the condition of Article 51 of the Constitution.
The independent members of PTI were on the stance that the reserved seats should be given to the SIC, he said, adding that apparently Article 51 and 106 were re-written, he said.
The minister said that they were viewing the contents of the verdict. He said that there was a law exist about the reserved seats and it should have been allocated to the SIC.
He clarified that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) was not a party in this case and that independent members of PTI did not approach any forum after winning.
Azam Nazeer Tarar said according to the SIC’s manifesto, they should not be allocated minority seats. He added that PTI never claimed that their party should get reserved seats.
Regarding the review appeal, the law minister said that a decision would be made after consulting of the federal cabinet and viewing the detailed judgment.
He said the ruling has raised ambiguities and confusion, and legal experts will continue to give their opinions on it.
The minister assured that the government would not confuse this constitutional issue with politics, adding that the ruling alliance had a clear majority of 209 members in the National Assembly.
“The PTI got a relief which it never prayed,” Tarar added.
Earlier today, the top court overturned the denial of reserved seats to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), paving the way for a major legal victory for Imran Khan’s party.
The decision was announced in the presence of a 13-member bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Munib Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha Malik, Athar Minallah, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Shahid Waheed, Irfan Saadat Khan, and Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah announced the 8-5 majority verdict, nullifying the Peshawar High Court's (PHC) order wherein it had upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision denying the reserved seats to the SIC.
The decision was supported by Justices Athar Minallah, Shahid Waheed, Muneeb Akhtar, Muhammad Ali Mazhar Ayesha Malik, Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, and Irfan Saadat Khan.
CJP Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Jamal Mandokhail, Justice Naeem Afghan, Justice Yahya Afridi, and Justice Ameenuddin Khan opposed the majority decision.
Justice Yahya Afridi, in his dissenting note, said that candidates who provided certificates of PTI affiliation should be declared PTI candidates and allocated reserved seats proportionally.
Rejecting the appeals filed by the SIC, the top court said that the party cannot take reserved seats as per the Constitution.
The top court in its verdict declared that the lack or denial of an election symbol does not in any manner affect the Constitutional or legal rights of a political party to participate in an election, whether general or by, and to field candidates and that the commission is under a Constitutional duty to apply all statutory provisions accordingly.
As per the verdict, candidates of the PTI cannot be declared independent candidates, nor representatives of any other party as the ECP had incorrectly declared members of PTI as independents.
"The PTI was a political party, remains a political party," the order said while instructing the PTI to submit a list of its reserved seats candidates within 15 days.
The verdict further read that the ECP should then publish the list of reserved seats of the candidates on its website within seven days.
The top court had reserved its verdict on Tuesday after closing the hearing on a set of appeals moved by the SIC.