F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has postponed hearing of a petition seeking disqualification of former president Asif Ali Zardari for concealing his assets, on Thursday.
Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders including MPA Khurram Sher Zaman and Special Adviser to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar appeared before the court to file the petition against the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairman.
However, the court had ordered the petitioners to satisfy that the matter was related to public interest and remove certain reservations before proceedings of the case.
During the hearing, Justice Athar Minallah had expressed annoyance over the issue with remarks that “why the court is being approached on political matters while the concerned authority is the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).”
“There are already many cases pending in the court,” he stated, adding that it was time to strengthen the parliament that could form a committee to resolve the issue.
The petition maintained that the former president was elected from constituency NA-213, and his property in New York, US, was not declared in the asset details submitted with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The application has pleaded with the court to disqualify Zardari from holding membership of the National Assembly for not being Sadiq and Amin under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution.
On January 10, Zaman withdrew the petition seeking disqualification of Zardari from the ECP by saying that he had found more concrete evidence against Zardari and the case must be taken to the Supreme Court (SC).
Later, the party leaders attempted to file a petition in the Supreme Court, however, SC s registrar raised certain objections over the petition.
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Wednesday fixed the petitions challenging the eligibility of former president and PPP’s Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari as member National Assembly (NA) for today (Thursday) hearing.
Chief Justice IHC (CJIHC) would hear the two identical petitions filed by Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI)’s and Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar and Khurram Sher Zaman seeking disqualification of Zardari under Article 62 (1) (F) for concealing his assets in his nomination papers submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
On Monday hearing, the CJ IHC had removed the objections of registrar office on the petitions and allowed them for initial hearing.
The court had asked the petitioners to satisfy the bench that it was a matter of public interest and should be heard on priority basis.
The CJ IHC observed that political issues must be addressed a political forums, adding that Parliament should form a committee to view the matter.
Earlier, the registrar office of IHC had raised several objections on the petitions including declaring the ECP as proper forum and pointed out unclear documents’ copies.
