Major political parties, such as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), have welcomed the Supreme Court’s (SC) historic decision to end politicians’ lifetime disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution, especially in light of the upcoming elections on February 8.
The highest court revoked its earlier ruling prohibiting politicians from ever running for office and overturned its decision in the Samiullah Baloch case. The historic ruling gives a number of powerful politicians hoping to run in the upcoming general election more optimism.
The result was pronounced by a six-member bigger bench led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa. Justice Yahya dissented from his fellow judges and supported the earlier ruling from the supreme court.
No one who is disqualified under Article 62 (1)(f) can be permanently prevented from running in elections, according to the ruling of the highest court.
The Nawaz-led party’s Central Secretary Information, Marriyum Aurangzeb, hailed the recent ruling, calling it “a step towards the restoration of constitutional sanity”.
“History has vindicated Nawaz Sharif and restored his honour, while [former CJP] Saqib Nisar’s short-lived vengeful act has been dishonourably discarded,” she added in a press release.
According to Marriyum, the lifelong disqualification clause was designed with the specific intention of punishing and permanently barring the “longest-serving prime minister from national politics.”
“The architects of this sinister provision in the law should be held accountable for adulterating the Constitution of Pakistan, which was the highest level of offence in the Islamic republic,” she stated.
“Let the true representatives of Pakistanis not be eliminated from the political landscape due to the ‘conspiratorial nefarious designs of a few individuals,” the former federal minister continued.
Marriyum emphasized that in order to guarantee that no one would ever dare violate the Constitution for political purposes, strict penalties must be established.
It is not enough to limit the PML-N Quaid to the concept of constitutional integrity and sanity; it must also “stand for all patriotic political leaders of Pakistan”. She decided that the only persons who can appoint or remove their representatives from office in Pakistan is the people themselves through voting.
Abdul Aleem Khan, the president of the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), referred to the Supreme Court’s decision as “a welcoming move”.
Aleem thanked PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif and party patron-in-chief Jahangir Khan Tareen on the conclusion of their lifetime disqualification in a post on X, the previous Twitter platform.
Qamar Zaman Kaira, senior leader of the PPP, described the ruling of the top court as a “good step” towards “correcting its record.”
In an interview with Geo News, he claimed that although parliament passed a legislation capping disqualification at five years under Article 62(1)(f), the law was later challenged in court.
Speaking his mind, Kaira called for an end to the custom of contesting every Parliament House ruling in court. “This move should be supported because there is a perception that the supreme court is righting historical wrongs.”
The seasoned politician, who held multiple important positions in earlier administrations, declared, “This is a good move because the most recent decision has accepted the decision of the parliament.” The Supreme Court upholds the primacy of the people and the parliament.
In a social media post, Hammad Azhar, who is the secretary-general and acting president of the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), criticized the decision made by the highest court.
The politician took to X to claim that people who were accused of making false accusations and charges were prohibited from running in the elections scheduled for February 8.
Additionally, he attacked the fact that some blue-eyed people, or “ladlas,” had been exonerated prior to national elections despite having been “convicted and faced disqualification from the top court”.
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