–Justice Minallah says ‘political matters should be solved by political forums’
–Asks Usman Dar’s lawyer to convince court why it should hear plea seeking Zardari’s disqualification on priority
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday acknowledged that petitions regarding disqualification of public office-holders may be dealt by the courts.
The court was hearing objections to a petition seeking the disqualification of former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari that was filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Usman Dar. The registrar had raised administrative objections over the petition.
During the hearing, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah asked Dar’s counsel why “political requests” were brought to courts even though the ECP was the legal forum for such appeals.
“Political matters should be solved by political forums,” Justice Minallah said, adding that there were already several pending cases in courts.
“Parliament can form a committee on this matter,” he suggested. “This is the time to strengthen the parliament.”
Dar’s counsel Sikander Bashir argued that the case did not fall under ECP’s jurisdiction as it sought disqualification under Article 62(1)(f). He said that there were documents that proved Zardari had concealed his assets. He also referred to a verdict passed by the Sindh High Court in this regard.
“ECP is not the relevant forum for disqualification under Article 62(1)(f). We have the Sindh High Court (SHC) order that ECP is not the authorised forum in this case,” Bashir said.
The court accepted Bashir’s arguments and dismissed the objections. However, Justice Minallah asked Bashir to convince the court as to why his client’s petition should be heard on a “priority basis” when there was already a backlog of cases.
“You will have to convince the court that this case comes under public interest,” the chief justice said.
The court will hear Dar’s arguments over the case being one of public interest in the next hearing.
Talking to the media outside the court, PTI leader Dar predicted that the verdict in the petition seeking Zardari’s disqualification will be “historic”.
“Justice Minallah has issued many historic verdicts in the past,” he said outside the high court building. “The decision of Zardari’s disqualification case will also be historic.”
“This is an open and shut case. I believe that Zardari will be disqualified for life,” he claimed. Dar regretted that Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had never asked Zardari where the latter had acquired so much wealth.
PTI leaders Dar and Khurram Sher Zaman had filed petitions seeking the disqualification of the former president, alleging that Zardari had concealed his assets and was therefore dishonest. The petitions sought a declaration that Zardari was neither righteous nor sagacious in terms of Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution and also Section 231 of the Election Act, 2017 and, therefore, not qualified to be elected as a lawmaker.
The petitions also demanded that the ECP should hold that Zardari was not qualified to be elected or chosen or to officiate as or exercise powers of the “party head” within the meaning of Article 63A of the Constitution, including the offices of PPP-Parliamentarian president and PPP co-chairperson. The ECP, the National Assembly secretary and Zardari are respondents in the petitions.
Earlier, similar petitions were filed against Zardari in the Supreme Court (SC) and the ECP but they both had been returned.
The petitioners alleged that Zardari concealed details pertaining to ownership of an apartment in New York City, United States, in the nomination papers filed ahead of the general elections. He also failed to disclose two bulletproof vehicles, thus violating Article 62(f)(i) of the Constitution and Section 231 of the Election Act 2017, they maintained.
They alleged that both the apartment and the armoured vehicles were not disclosed in Form B of the nomination papers filed by Zardari on July 6 2018, as a candidate for NA-213.
“Zardari occupies more than one office apart from co-chairing PPP, he is also president of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) which was a violation of Article 63 (a) of the Constitution” they added.
The PTI leaders also argued that Zardari’s alleged involvement in the money laundering of billions of rupees through fictitious bank accounts is also a ground for his disqualification.
