As the federal government filed a review petition in the Supreme Court (SC) against its verdict in the Asghar Khan case on Saturday, the SC Registrar’s Office returned the plea because no court fee was attached with it.
The review petition argued that the Asghar Khan case was about rigging in 1990 elections, and no questions had been raised about the office of the president. Therefore‚ the court should not have given verdict on this aspect, the petition said. However, sources in the SC Registrar’s office said the petition was returned because it was filed without the Rs 10,000 court fee. In the 16-page petition filed by Deputy Attorney General Dil Mohammad Ali Zai‚ the federation had sought a review of the SC’s observations vis-à-vis the office of the president. It said the incumbent president assumed office in 2008, adding that the court had been informed earlier that no political cell existed in the presidency since then.
In its detailed verdict on the Asghar Khan case on November 8, the SC had held that unlawful orders by superior military officers or their failure to prevent unlawful actions by their subordinates were culpable. The SC’s judgment had also dwelt at length on the role of the president and the involvement of his office in politics.
The president has no authority to create an election cell or to manage in any manner or by giving directions to the armed forces or to civilians to make efforts to achieve desired results, the detailed verdict had said, adding: “If any such illegal order is transmitted, the same is not worthy to be obeyed.”
