The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday said it would accept the PTI’s petition against phased acceptance of the resignations given by its members of the National Assembly (MNAs) if the party decided to return to the assembly, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Chief Justice of the IHC Justice Athar Minallah told PTI’s lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar that the court was ready to accept the petition but only if the party MNAs took their seats in the NA tomorrow.
Barrister Zafar replied that the MNAs could not go back to the House since they had been evicted by the coalition government.
CJ Minallah made it clear to him that the court would not allow anybody to use it for ‘political point scoring’. “NA speaker has already offered the PTI MNAs to return to the assembly and again become part of the parliamentary process,” he added.
Later, the court adjourned the hearing for one hour after PTI’s lawyer sought time for consultations with the party leaders over the issue.
“I give you five days to prove that you have come to the court with clean hands,” the CJ said.
He made it clear to the PTI that the IHC could not order the National Assembly speaker. “Already we have shown lot of disrespect to the parliament. Don’t make fun of democracy,” he said, and added, “It would be better if political issues are resolved in the parliament.”
If the PTI, Justice Minallah added, wanted general elections in the country early, it had two choices: one it could create instability in the country, which the courts would not approve of, and secondly by respecting the constitution and returning to the NA.
He said right now the PTI was going against the Supreme Court verdict in which it had declared the dissolution of parliament unconstitutional. “If the Supreme Court’s order had been implemented, PTI MNAs would have been sitting in the assembly,” he remarked.
Later, the court adjourned hearing of the case for an indefinite time period. Reporter: Ihtesham Kiani
Reporter: Ihtesham Kiyani