Matters of parliament must be untangled there, says IHC on PTI’s plea

• IHC on Thursday hears the plea submitted by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on the issue of acceptance of resignations
• CJ questioned the motive behind the petition submitted by PTI
• He also remarked that the matters of the parliament must be solved in the House

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday hears the plea submitted by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on the issue of acceptance of resignations.

Chief Justice Islamabad High Court Athar Minallah has been hearing the case. At the outset of the hearing, CJ questioned the motive behind the petition submitted by PTI.

He also remarked that the matters of the parliament must be solved in the House and urged the party to decide whether the issue is political or not.

The court also maintained that PTI should consult with other political parties as well and questioned whether the party wants to achieve some political goals from the court.

On behalf of PTI, Barrister Ali Zafar appeared in court. The court questioned him whether the party members were forced by the PTI to resign.

PTI’s Counsel Ali Zafar replied that there has been a statutory process for the acceptance of resignations and submitted that the acceptance was done the wrong way.

“If 123 members were not de-seated then why the resignations of 11 members were accepted,” the lawyer asked.

He also requested the court to nullify the acceptance and maintained that the deputy speaker did not investigate the resignations. “Speaker did not fulfil his constitutional responsibility.”

The PTI’s counsel argued that the resignations were given on the condition that all 123 will be accepted together. “If all the members’ resignations were not accepted then the condition was not met.”

The court after listening to PTI’s counsel opined that the members who have resigned must be in the parliament and must consult the House.

The CJ also remarked that the court cannot be at odds with the parliament adding that it is not the policy. CJ Athar Minallah also said that the members have been telling the court that the resignations are real while PTI, on the contrary, is against the acceptance of resignations.

Barrister Ali Zafar further argued that if the court invalidates the acceptance of resignations then PTI would go back to the parliament to which the court didn’t agree.

“You have been giving an impression that you don’t respect the parliament. You have to prove that you respect.”

After which the hearing was adjourned for an hour.

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