02 November 2004	Tuesday	18 Ramazan 1425

ISLAMABAD, Nov 1: The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned appeal of the federation in a case about "Election System Un-Islamic" for the next session.

A five-member Shariat appellate bench of the apex court, comprising Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar (chairman), with members Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Allama Dr Khalid Mahmud and Justice Dr Rashid Jallundhary heard the case and adjourned the petition.

The federation had filed an appeal against the judgment of the Federal Shariat Court in which section 13, 14, 48, 49, 50, 52 of The Representation of Peoples Act-1976, were challenged by the petitioners declaring them contrary to the Quran and Sunnah.

Deputy Attorney-General of Pakistan Raja Muhammad Irshad appeared on behalf of the federation. Wahab-ul-Khairi, who is one of the respondents, also appeared before the court.

In its judgment, the Federal Shariat Court had directed the federation to amend section 13, 14, 49, 50, 52 and 38 (4) C-II of The Representation of Peoples Act-1976 till Dec 31, 1989, otherwise these would be considered ineffective.

The Federal Shariat Court also mentioned that the people's act 1976 and the Houses of the Parliament and Provincial Assemblies (election) Order 1977, should accordingly be amended by the president of Pakistan by Dec 31, 1989.

The editor-in-chief of the weekly "Takbeer", Salahuddin (late), Mujibur-Rehman Shami, Altaf Hassan Qureshi, Malik Muhammad Usman, Habib-Wahab-ul-Khairi and Mrs Yasmeen Raza, Abdul Rab Jaffery and Bashir Ahmed Naveed (respondents in this case) had filed petitions before the Federal Shariat Court and challenged the above-mentioned sections of the peoples act 1976.-APP