LAHORE – The PML-N has publicised a fact sheet on the issue of the alleged stay order against Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday. The fact sheet says there is absolutely no stay order whatsoever which has been passed in this case (or, for that matter, in any other case), on the strength of which Shahbaz Sharif continued to hold the office of Punjab Chief Minister Punjab.
The facts regarding the litigation pertaining to the raising of challenge to (i) the very eligibility of Shahbaz Sharif to contest the elections for the provincial assembly and (ii) his status subsequent to his being declared elected to another seat of provincial assembly while already holding a seat in the Assembly, from the original constituency, are as follows:
That the eligibility of Shahbaz Sharif to contest elections was challenged qua one of the constituencies from where he had filed his nomination papers in the year 2007. Initially, before the election tribunal constituted for adjudication of his eligibility, this challenge failed on account of difference of opinion between the two members of the tribunal, but on a writ petition filed by the opposing candidate, a full bench consisting of PCO judges remanded the case to the election tribunal, but simultaneously allowed Shahbaz Sharif to continue to function as the Punjab chief minister.
That this order of remand was challenged inter alia by the federation of Pakistan, the speaker of the provincial assembly and the then advocate general, Punjab before the Supreme Court of Pakistan, while the portion of the order whereby Shahbaz Sharif was allowed to continue to function as chief minister was also subsequently challenged by the opposing candidate.
Again it was the bench comprising of PCO judges in the Supreme Court, which initially dismissed all these petitions, and simultaneously declared Shahbaz Sharif ineligible to contest elections, notwithstanding the fact that notice of petition challenging his eligibility, had never been issued to him by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
After the restoration of the laid off judges, a review petition was filed against the judgment of PCO judges in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, by inter alia, Shahbaz Sharif, and this review petition was heard by a bench comprising of three restored judges and two PCO judges (who were also judges in the original bench). It was during the pendency of this review petition that through an interim order dated March 31, 2009, Shahbaz Sharif was restored to his position of chief minster.
Later, on May 26, 2009, the judgment earlier passed against Shahbaz Sharif by the bench of PCO judges was set aside.
Fact says that it was thus evident that it was only for a brief period (56 days) during the pendency of the review petition that Shahbaz Sharif was functioning as the chief minister of Punjab through an interim order of the court.
The PML-N said the statements passed by PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and others, including some PPP leaders, were not only false but also outright malicious.
“The fact of the matter is that no court has passed any stay order on the strength of which the Punjab chief minister was running the government. Since Shujaat and some of the PPP leaders have asserted that there is such an order, they should produce it in full public view through the very media they are using to disseminate this maliciously false statement,” said a statement issued from the PML-N office.
“And if they are not able to produce any such stay order, it shall stand established in unequivocal terms that they have deliberately tried to hoodwink the public into believing that which they knew and believed was untrue.”
