Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday gave parliament 10 more days to resolve the matter over two appointments in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
An IHC bench – headed by IHC Chief Justice AtharMinallah – resumed hearing of a petition challenging the appointment of two ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan through a presidential decree.
Justice Minallah heard the petitions of the PML-N leaders, Mohsin Shah Nawaz Ranjha, MurtuzaJavedAbbasi and Jahangir Jadoon. Deputy Attorney General Syed Muhammad Tayyab Shah on behalf of the government. The National Assembly
secretary, who also appeared in the court today, requested 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.
He said, “The parliament is supreme and it has to resolve this matter. The leader of the house and the opposition leader should come forward and resolve the matter.”
“ECP is an important institution. It needs a person who has the trust of the people. Cannot you find any such person?” asked Justice Minallah and added, “We still trust the parliament that it will be able to come up with a solution.”
In one of the previous hearings, the IHC bench had suspended the notification of the appointment of Khalid MehmoodSiddiqui as an ECP member from Sindh and Munir Ahmed Kakar as the member from Balochistan.
