ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Monday again ruled out the transfer of 80 MNAs of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) to the PTI despite the long-awaited detailed verdict of the Supreme Court in the case of reserved seats. A majority order on July 8 and 5 declared former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s PTI eligible for seats reserved for women and minorities, causing a major setback to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition. The eight judges ruled that out of the list of 80 MNAs, 39 belonged to the PTI and gave 41 others a chance to resubmit their party affiliation. Despite an 8-5 split, 11 out of 13 judges declared the PTI a parliamentary party. From the verdict on changes to the election law, which seeks to prevent PTI-backed “independent” legislators from joining the party, to the Supreme Court chastising the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for not fully implementing its brief verdict, there have been a number of developments. Moreover, the Speaker of the National Assembly wrote a letter to the ECP telling her that the court order could not be implemented. The 70-page detailed judgment, published today, was written by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, who is expected to replace acting Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa as Chief Justice in October. At a press conference later in the day, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said that the recent changes to the electoral law were still in play and therefore it was not possible to “turn back the clock” on the lawmakers’ position under the law. He said various previous court verdicts had argued that Parliament’s right to legislate would take precedence over Supreme Court verdicts. Tarar said the review petitions against the reserved seat verdicts were still valid and gained even more significance after the detailed verdict. The minister said he was also “hurt” by the “harsh words” used for the two dissenting judges in the detailed note. “All judges in the court are equal and seniority does not weigh decisions… the difference is the beauty of debate and logic, whenever we look deeply into something and different opinions emerge and we find something better out of them,” it added. Tarar said the constitutional and legal issue is that the list of legislators to be assigned must be decided by law, regardless of what the detailed verdict says. He added that the recent amendments to the electoral law are now part of the law. “In their presence, how these places are to be assigned, and in what manner this law is to be repealed, are all questions which this detailed verdict will not find.” Tarar said the court’s interpretation should not go to the extent of “changing the bare letter of the law and the constitution”. As for the future after the verdict, Tarar said, “Uncertainty still exists. Under the law of the land, those who are considered independent legislators cannot leave the SIC because their action is irreversible. He said that in view of the relevant provisions of the Act, seats cannot be allotted to PTI. “The court’s decision is different. It seems to me that another round of litigation is needed,” Tarar added.
