Unlike top PML-N leaders, Raza Hayat Hiraj has hailed the Supreme Court’s decision on reserved seats that ruled the PTI was eligible for reserved seats. He believes a case on Form 47 would follow it.
“I am clearly saying it is good despite that it is against our government,” he said while appearing on Aaj News show Rubaroo on Friday. “I am happy because the next step in Parliament will be Form 47. Now their case will be taken up. May Form 47 people meet their fate.”
PTI Senator Ali Zafar and Supreme Court Advocate Raja Khalid were the other two guests on the show.
Earlier in the day, the apex court declared that the set aside orders of Peshawar High Court and Election Commission of Pakistan taking away reserved seats from the Sunni Ittehad Council. The court ruled that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf should be considered a political party and given reserved seats.
Imran Khan’s party hailed the decision as “historic” and demanded the chief election commissioner’s resignation. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar was of the view that the SC granted relief to the PTI despite the fact that they had not filed a petition for reserved seats.
Hiraj lamented party leaders’ reaction to the decision, expressing hope that parliamentarians would hear and read the decision. Except for two out of the 13 judges, he said that 11 judges agreed that those who had written PTI in their nomination papers are PTI members. They also decided that the ECP misconstrued the SC’s decision on PTI’s bat symbol, he stated and added that it was “inappropriate” to give a personal view on it
“This is a good decision of the SC and I presume that the detailed judgement of this decision will be a big charge sheet against the ECP,” he said.
Hiraj, who himself is a lawyer, won Khanewal’s NA-144 constituency seat in the general election as an independent candidate. In Feb, he, along with two other elected members from Punjab, joined the PML-N.
In response to the government’s reaction to the decision, PTI’s Zafar agreed that the Sunni Ittehad Council appeared in the top court. He added that the PTI members were compelled to join the SIC after the ECP rejected them to allot them the bat symbol.
He quoted Article 187 (Issue and Execution of Processes of Supreme Court) of the Constitution, interpreting that under the law, the court rectifies old constitutional mistakes. According to Zafar, the law has been used in the past in many cases. “The court saw that it had given a symbol decision that resulted in confusion and the ECP misinterpreted it by forcing PTI members to leave the party and join the SIC.”
When asked, SC advocate Khalid was of the view that the question before the apex court was whether the reserved seats should be given to the SIC or PTI as Khan’s party did not appear before the ECP and PHC. He also mentioned the SIC party’s constitution, which says that non-Muslims cannot be their member.
He mentioned Article 51 6(d) of the constitution which explains that seats would be allocated proportionally to those parties who submitted their lists to the ECP and submitted nomination papers within the stipulated time. They are entitled to the reserved seats.
Khalid added that the SIC did not do this in the given time. “When the time went, so the SC cannot give you time. You will be treated as per law, Constitution and the Election Act, 2017, its Article 104 and likewise its rules.”
PML-N’s Hiraj said that it has to be seen who the independent candidates became. “Parliament is the biggest institution of the country. How those people can change the country’s fate if some people do not deserve to be in Parliament? I am very clear that this [reserved seats case] is a very good decision. I hope that our ministers welcome this.”
He went on to add that it was like “unwanted justice”. When asked, he said that the government would not shake, however, it would not have a two-thirds majority to amend the Constitution.
“The government has a majority for simple legislation. To bring an amendment to the Constitution, you need a vote of 224 members out of 336. It is interesting that out of five judges one can become CJP. Four out of eight are those who have to become CJP. It was also a fear of amendment that the CJP Isa will get more time and they will get late,” Khalid said and added that the CJP should be appreciated for convening full court sessions and meetings several times.
Without revealing his source, PML-N’s Hiraj claimed that CJP Isa had declared to his colleagues that he would not take any sort of extension.
“For God’s sake, do not run Pakistan on the basis of YouTube and Facebook,” he said and added that the government and the party never discussed any such amendment in their meetings.
While speaking about the decision, PTI’s Zafar said that the SC recognised the PTI, secondly, action can be taken against the ECP and its members, and Senate elections would be again held in Punjab.
