Four members of the National Assembly elected on reserved seats took oath on Friday despite the Peshawar High Court’s stay order to bar the oath-taking of the beneficiaries that were given the NA reserved seats claimed by the Sunni Ittehad Council as lawmakers amid a protest by the opposition.
National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq administered the oath of office to them. He was heard “Thanks for shaming me” after the ceremony as the lawmakers of the Sunni Ittehad Council protested against it.
The development came days after the Election Commission of Pakistan rejected the allocation of reserved seats to members of the SIC, which now hosts independent candidates backed by PTI, and distributed those seats among other parties.
Leaders of the PTI have announced that the party would approach the Supreme Court against the decision. On Wednesday, a two-member Peshawar High Court bench barred the lawmakers elected on reserved seats from taking oath.
Lawmakers who took oath on reserved seats committed “contempt of court” and their swearing-in should be declared “void”, MNA Omar Ayub said.
“We should be told if the jail superintendent is answerable to the court or the government,” Ayub demanded.
“Today, on behalf of all my opposition members, I demand that the oath taken today should be declared null and void as it is unconstitutional and has no legal standing,” he said while speaking on the floor of the lower house of the Parliament.
He described them as “strangers” in the House who have been brought in “artificially”.
Ayub, who is PTI’s General Secretary, also condemned MNAs-elect who were in the House based on Form 47. He added that the party would continue to protest until 180 members of the party were not in the House and the party was not allotted the quota fixed for women.
In his speech, he stated that PTI leaders were not being allowed to meet imprisoned PTI chief Imran Khan by the Adiala Jail superintendent.
Barrister Gohar Khan in his speech pointed out that as per the ECP decisions for preserved seats, eight seats were preserved from KP, 12 from Punjab, and three of non-Muslims in the National Assembly.
He added that the party has 21 reserved seats in KP, 24 in Punjab, and two in Sindh. This makes up a total of 47.
“On March 1, the ECP gave order on the petition but the commission did not announce its order and announced it on March 4 and the same day issued the order. So when we approached the Peshawar High Court, except for one notification there were no other notifications but we precisely and specifically mentioned seats across Pakistan.”
He added that the court gave them a stay and it was “precisely mentioned that the speaker shall not administer the oath.” It was included that they “will not be administered oath at any cost”.
Khan added that it was the ECP’s discretion to send the order copy to the speaker. It would have been communicated to the speaker and if not, it was the duty of the high court, he said and added that it was violation of that oath and the order.
Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan stated that the Peshawar High Court’s order pertaining to the stay on oath-taking of MNAs on reserved seats applied to eight lawmakers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“It is only those eight reserved seats for women which were impleaded as respondents and the PHC had granted an injunction and restrained an oath to be administered to them and as I understand that oath has not been administered today,” he informed the House.
He added that the matter was sub judice before three high courts.
NA Speaker Sadiq maintained that they neither have received any order from the court nor from the ECP.
Awan cited that the speaker did not commit contempt if he did not give oath to eight lawmakers. He went on to add that the two other high courts have issued notices.
PTI’s Khan contended that the AGP had not read the order and had not gone through the petition filed in the PHC. He read his party’s petition.
“That is precisely the question before the high court. The matter involves not only the interpretation but that involves an order passed by the ECP and whenever the election commission order is in question that applies to the entire federation. Our submission is the entire case is sub judice, therefore no one is administered to oath whether it was from KP or whether it is from Punjab. The matter is not just sub judice in the high court but the high court has passed a stay order and that applies to all cases. My request therefore would be no one shall administer oath.”
Also, read this
Peshawar High Court bars MPs elected on reserved seats from taking oath
Sindh High Court bars counting reserved seats MPs’ votes in presidential election
NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq said that the House did not receive any notice or order from the Election Commission of Pakistan regarding the oath-taking of MNAs on reserved seats.
“I am very clear on this issue that firstly we did not receive any notice and secondly even if we had we would have gone by the book.
He said this after Barrister Gohar Khan highlighted that MNAs on reserved seats could not be administered the oath in light of the order of the Peshawar High Court.
