The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday gave t
he Parliament 10 more days to resolve the matter over
two appointments in the El
ection Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
An IHC bench headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah resumed hearing of a petition challenging the appointment of two ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan through a presidential decree.
Chief Justice Athar Minallah hear
d the petitions of PML-N leaders Mohsin Shah Nawaz Ranjha, Murtuza Javed Abbasi and Jahangir Jadoon. Deputy Attorney General Syed Tayyab Shah appeared on behalf of the government.
The National Assembly secretary, who also appeared in the court, requeste
d the IHC for additional time. “It is an important matter and therefore, we will give more time,” said Justice Minallah while adjourning the hearing and seeking a report on December 31.
“T
he Parliament is supreme and it has to resolve this matter. The leader of the House an
d the opposition leader should come forward and resolve the matter,” the chief justice remarked. “ECP is an important institution. It needs a person who has the trust of the people. Cannot you find any such person?” he asked. “We still trust t
he Parliament that it will be able to come up with a solution,” he added.
In one of the previous hearings, the IHC bench had suspende
d the notification of the appointment of Khalid Mehmood Siddiqui as ECP member from Sindh and Munir Ahmed Kakar as ECP member from Balochistan R
11; both PTI nominees.
