News
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Govt appoints two suspended ministers as advisersSC makes 28 MPs ‘non-functional’
* Court says members suspended unless constitutional amendment adopted for all legal, constitutional consequences
* Says it has shown much restraint in the matter
By Hasnaat Malik
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court, on Monday, suspended the memberships of 28 parliamentarians, including three federal ministers, who were elected under an incomplete Election Commission through by-polls after the 18th Amendment.
A four-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed, “The membership shall remain suspended for all constitutional and legal consequences until the passage of the 20th Constitutional Amendment”. Last year, the court had referred this matter to the Election Commission of Pakistan for validation of the by-elections. The ECP had declared the elections valid and observed that there was no need of a constitutional amendment, but later on, the court rejected the ECP decision and asked for a constitutional amendment to validate the by-polls.
The court observed that it had shown much restraint in the matter as, since the passage of the 18th Amendment, it had been pointing out that the election commission was not constituted according to constitutional rules, but no progress was made on the matter. The court in its order recalled that even the attorney general had submitted before the court that the by-polls, which were held by the incomplete election commission, could be validated through a constitutional amendment.
The court said that some of the parliamentarians elected in the by-polls did not take the matter seriously as they did not appear before the bench. Separately, the court rejected the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf plea to stop the upcoming by-elections, and directed the election commission to hold by-polls in the vacant constituencies on fresh and unpolluted voter lists.
The suspended parliamentarians include Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain – both of whom have now been made advisers – Senator Syed Sajid Hussain, nine MNAs – Chaudhary Asghar Ali Jutt, Jamshed Ahmed Dasti, Muhammad Akhtar Khan Kanju, Sardar Shafqat Hayat Khan, Chaudhry Tassaduq Masud Khan, Haji Khuda Bux Rajar, Khadija Aamir Yar Malik, Sardar Mumtaz Khan, Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari. The MPA’s are Syed Basit Ahmed Sultan, Mian Muhammad Ajmal Asif, Ahmed Mujtaba Gilani, Sardar Meer Badshah Qaisrani, Malik Saiful Malook Khokhar, Ijaz Ahmed Khatoon, Malik Ghulam Raza, Saifuddin Khalid, Ghulam Qadir Khan Bettani, Muhammad Rashad Khan, Maulvi Muhammad Sarwar Musakhel, Humaira Awais Shahid, Rana Rizvi, Arif Masih, Rasheed Khan Bhai and Chettan Mal.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk