ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa on Monday asked PTI lawyer Latif Khosa to abstain from levelling accusations against a constitutional body unless substantiated by evidence.
The CJP’s comment came as the apex court heard the PTI’s petition, seeking contempt charges against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for purportedly violating the SC’s directives from December 22, aimed at ensuring a “level playing field” for the party in the upcoming elections.
Heading the bench alongside Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali, CJP Isa stressed the importance of supporting allegations with proof. The proceedings were being livestreamed on the SC’s website.
The hearing came a day after the ECP submitted a response to the Supreme Court stating that 76% of the PTI’s nomination papers for the upcoming elections had been accepted, contradicting the party’s assertions of an uneven playing field.
The ECP, citing data from returning officers, maintained that 598 out of the party candidate’s 843 nomination papers for the National Assembly have been accepted, whereas 1,398 out of 1,777 nomination papers were accepted for the provincial assemblies.
Irked at the PTI counsel’s ‘politicisation’ of the matter, the CJP asked Khosa if he wanted the SC to rule that all the nomination papers filed by his party’s candidates must be accepted.
“What is wrong with the [ECP’s] report?” Justice Isa asked the counsel. The top judge asked Khosa to submit in writing anything that he thought was wrong with the ECP Punjab chief secretary’s written reply, submitted to the SC. “Do not make verbal accusations,” Justice Isa cautioned.
“Do not beat around the bush. Tell us exactly what you seek from the SC. If there is any state institution you don’t have faith in, tell us… we will pass a suitable order in light of that,” the CJP observed.
“Spare us your grievances,” Justice Isa said. Khosa replied that “the whole country knows how we are being discriminated against”. At this, the CJP stated that the SC was itself telling the world about it by airing the proceedings live.
The PTI counsel lamented that the party seeks a level playing field and added that Section 144 has been imposed to impede the party’s electoral activities while candidates of other parties were not being hindered.
Justice Isa asked the counsel what he meant by ‘other candidates’, and added that Section 144 applies to all political parties rather than just one. He further asked if the counsel was implying that the PML-N was also conspiring against the PPP and JUI-F.
Hamid Khan, also representing the PTI, prayed to the chief justice to hear the party’s case pertaining to the revocation of its electoral symbol on January 10, to which Justice Isa obliged, fixing the case for hearing on the date suggested.
“The PTI has submitted the most petitions and they are being heard as well. But you also want to get cases fixed and don’t want to bother with attending the hearing,” said the top judge.
The chief justice clarified that conducting the elections was the responsibility of the election commission and not the courts, and it is the electoral body that has to act against reports of nomination papers being snatched.
He further asked why should the apex court hear matters related to the ECP. However, he added that if a petition is submitted to the SC, then the court will perform its duty.
Adjourning the matter till January 15, the SC directed the PTI counsel to submit a written response on the reports submitted by the ECP and its Punjab chief secretary.
