PHC bars NA speaker, Senate chairman from appointing leaders of opposition

• PHC bench hears petition against Ayub, Shibli's disqualification.
• Court prohibits ECP from taking further action against politicians.
• Hearing of appeal against ECP's verdict adjourned till August 15.

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday barred National Assembly speaker and Senate chairman from appointing leaders of the opposition in their respective houses following the denotification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) Omar Ayub and Shibli Faraz from the top parliamentary positions.

Hearing a petition against the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision to denotify Ayub and Faraz, PHC's two-member bench comprising Justice Arshad Ali and Justice Khurshid Iqbal also prohibited the electoral body from taking further action against the opposition party's politicians.

The court adjourned the hearing till August 15.

The development comes after the ECP, last week, de-notified nine PTI lawmakers, including Ayub and Faraz, following their convictions in the May 9 cases.

The list included Ayub (MNA from NA-18 Haripur), Rai Hassan Nawaz (MNA from NA-143 Sahiwal-III), Zartaj Gul (MNA from NA-185 DG Khan-II), Rai Haider Ali (MNA from NA-96 Faisalabad-II), and Sahibzada Hamid Raza (MNA from NA-104 Faisalabad-X) from the lower house of parliament.

Punjab Assembly members Muhammad Ansar Iqbal (MPA from PP-73 Sargodha-III) Junaid Afzal (MPA from PP-98 Faisalabad-l), and Rai Muhammad Murtaza Iqbal (MPA from PP-203 Sahiwal-VI) were also de-notified.

The lawmakers were disqualified under Article 63(1)(h) of the Constitution (a person shall be disqualified from being elected [if] … he has been, on conviction for any offence involving moral turpitude, sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years). 

The ECP's decision followed the 10-year sentence awarded to the PTI leaders by a Faisalabad special anti-terrorism court (ATC).

In its verdict, the special ATC sentenced 108 individuals of the total 185 accused, which also includes Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) chief Hamid Raza, who has been handed 10 years imprisonment.

Speaking to the media today, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that the PHC had prohibited the ECP from on the disqualification matter and also barred the appointment of the leaders of the opposition in both houses of the parliament.

"We are being discriminated against [....] and are being unjustly treated," Gohar said while lamenting the former ruling party's ongoing legal woes.

"The [election] commission did not listen to us, did not send a notice, and [our members] were disqualified overnight," the PTI chairman said, adding that the solution to political problems lie in negotiations.

"We tried hard to make the dialogue successful [but our] negotiators weren't even able to meet the PTI founder," he remarked.