ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked PTI to reconsider its decision of resigning from National Assembly, suggesting PTI should go back and become part of the parliament.
A two-member bench of SC comprising CJP Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ayesha Malik heard the PTI’s petition regarding the piecemeal acceptance of the party’s MNAs’ resignations.
Earlier, IHC dismissed the PTI’s plea against ‘piece-meal’ resignation of all 123 MNAs.
The highest court stated during the hearing today that the IHC had made a clear decision about the acceptance of MNA resignations in phases.
Faisal Chaudhry, the attorney for PTI, argued before the court that the NA speaker could not sanction the resignations of MNAs in stages and that it must be done all at once.
In response, CJP Justice Bandial said that the SC cannot tell Parliament how to receive resignations. “We cannot meddle in the Parliament’s internal affairs.”
“The speaker has the legal right to accept the resignations of MNAs. Prima facie, if the speaker’s rights are infringed upon, it will attract Article 69,” the court said.
During the hearing, CJP said PTI should play its role in the Parliament in this testing time, millions of people are suffering from floods. The economy of the country has been badly damaged in the floods.
“You will also have to look at the country’s economic situation,” CJP Bandial told PTI counsel. “Does the PTI have any idea how much it will cost to hold by-elections on 123 seats?” he asked.
The CJP added that IHC CJ Minallah issued his ruling after deep legal deliberations. “If the court intervenes, it will be difficult for the speaker to do their job.”
After hearing the arguments, the court adjourned the proceedings for an indefinite period.
Meanwhile, PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry in his reaction to SC’s remarks, said that Pakistan’s economy has suffered losses of billions of dollars because of the “regime change operation”.
سپریم کورٹ نے کہا ہے کہ PTI کو اندازہ ہے 123 ضمنی انتخابات پر کتنے اخراجات ہوں گے؟ سپریم کورٹ کو اندازہ نہیں Regime Change operation کے نتیجے میں صرف کرنسی کے ضمن میں پاکستان کو اب تک 5 ارب ڈالر کا نقصان ہو چکا ہے , انتخابات نہ ہونے کا نقصان انتخابات نہ کرنے سے کہیں بڑا ہے
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) September 22, 2022
Taking to twitter, the former federal minister said “The Supreme Court asked whether PTI was aware of how much will 123 by-elections cost. Well, the Supreme Court has no idea that as a result of the regime change operation, Pakistan has already lost $5 billion so far in terms of currency alone.”
