Islamabad:
Friday, a constitutional bench (CB) of the Supreme Court put aside the objections raised by the office of the registrar of the court to petitions, requesting the formation of a judicial commission to launch an investigation into the allegations according to which the general elections of February 8, 2024 were strongly rigged.
One of the members of the bench, judge Jamal Khan Mandokhail, however, asked the lawyer a petitioner on the way in which the court could constitute a judicial commission when a forum – electoral courts – was available to treat complaints of the elections.
On Friday, a CB of five members led by Judge Aminuddin Khan resumed the petitions filed under article 183 (3) by diverse petitioners, including the former Prime Minister Imran Khan and the head of the PTI Sher Afzal Marwat as well as the objections raised to them by the registrar SC.
At the start of the hearing, Judge Amicin Khan asked Imran’s lawyer Hamid Khan, who appeared via a video link, if he had submitted an answer. Hamid Khan replied that he had submitted an answer as well as additional documents, including the details of the BLAST inquiry of the QUETTA lawyers.
Judge Khan pointed out that the court had taken note of Suo Motu to this case at the time “, but it now seems that the authority to take a opinion of Suo Motu can no longer exist”.
Hamid Khan replied that the decision of the bench of ten members in the Commission de la Note case is also available, which involved a substantial legal discussion.
Justice Jamal Mandokhail noted that in the incidental affairs of the lawyers of Memogate and Quetta, no other judicial forum was available. He asked how a constitutional bench could create a new forum when alternatives already exist.
Judge Muhammad Ali Mazhar asked Khan how many electoral petitions were currently in the process of being in the electoral courts. “If your argument is accepted, the entire process will stop and all cases of the electoral court will have to be canceled,” he said.
Subsequently, after consultation, the CB canceled the objections raised by the registrar’s office and ordered it to assign numbers to the petitions. The case was adjourned for an indefinite period.
