ISLAMABAD – Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (r) Hamid Ali Mirza on Friday adjourned the hearing of a reference against nine members of the PML-Q Unification Bloc until April 23.
Representing the nine members of Unification Bloc members who parted the ways with PML-Q, Barrister Akram Sheikh contended before the CEC that he had no authority to conduct hearing on the case after the 18th Amendment.
“Per law, CEC cannot hear this reference until the completion of the Election Commission,” Sheikh said. However, the lawyer of PML-Q’s Afnan Ali Kundi opposed Akram’s views. Attorney General of Pakistan Molvi Anwarul Haq was also present during the hearing to assist the CEC.
After hearing the arguments, the CEC adjourned the case until April 23 on a request by the attorney general. PML-Q’s opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly had filed the reference against the nine former PML-Q members for violating party policy.
The members whom reference has been filed are Dr Tahir Ali Javed, Mian Atta Muhammad Maneka, Chaudhry Arshad Jutt, Tariq Mehmood, Nasim Lodhi, Saba Sadiq, Farhana Afzal, Ayesha Javed and Joyce Rufin Julius. Meanwhile, the CEC also heard a case against five alleged fake degree-holding parliamentarians.
