The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday disposed of the constitutional petition filed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) over the postponement of polling on two Karachi seats of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Assembly after the AJK Election Commission announced holding elections on the two seats of immigrants on July 20.
After the announcement, the MQM’s petition in SHC had become irrelevant as the purpose of the petition was already served by the AJK Election Commission.
However, the SHC division bench, comprising Justice Muhammad Athar Saeed and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, also issued orders for ensuring proper security measures during elections and taking the stakeholders into confidence before postponing any elections in the future.
Counselling on behalf of petitioner, Barrister Dr Farogh Naseem argued that even if the AJK High Court had issued the order for holding elections, the report on law and order submitted by the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police would be an impediment in holding of polls, and, therefore, it must be declared void.
Submitting a written statement, Sindh Advocate General Abdul Fatah Malik assured the court that the provincial government would make proper security arrangements when the elections on the two AJK assembly seats are held.
After hearing final arguments from both the sides, the bench ordered the Sindh government to prepare a report and after taking all stakeholders onboard, submit it to the AJK Election Commission.
The judgment stated that security is the responsibility of the government and next time all stakeholders should be taken into confidence before taking any decision.
The petition against the deferment of the election had been filed by two MQM candidates for the seats, Saleem Butt and Tahir Khokar, who submitted that the DIG headquarters had given a baseless report to the AJK Election Commission and suggested postponement of polling in Karachi due to the poor law and order situation.
The petitioners submitted that political parties, who participated in the elections, too have expressed their reservations on the voters’ list. The petition pleaded the court for passing orders for holding re-elections for the entire AJK legislative assembly. The AJK Chief Election Commissioner, federal and provincial governments and the Sindh IGP were cited as respondents in the petition.
