The Supreme Court suspended on Monday the Peshawar High Court decision that deprived the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) of reserved seats for women and minorities.

Presiding judge of the three-member bench, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah said that the suspension order would be limited to the reserved seats.

The apex court announced its decision as the three-member bench comprising Justice Shah, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah took up an SIC appeal against the PHC order.

It merits here to mention that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed candidates joined the SIC after the general elections to secure the maximum number of reserved seats in Parliament.

It was also because the apex court had deprived the party of its electoral symbol ‘bat’ before polls.

At the hearing, Justice Shah said that the apex court was approving the application for hearing and suspended the orders given by the PHC and the Election Commission of Pakistan.

At one point, he wondered on what basis other parties were given the reserved seats. He further question whether it was mentioned in the law that the remaining seats should also be allocated to them.

“If such things are not in the law, then is it against the Constitutional scheme,” he asked.

Justice Minallah wondered how the ECP maintained a contradictory position.