ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday held that the disqualification of the elected representative through courts was not advisable as it was prone to miscarriage of justice.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah passed these observations while dismissing the petitions seeking disqualification of former president Asif Ali Zardari and the information minister.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leaders Usman Dar and Khurram Sher Zaman had filed identical petitions seeking disqualification of Mr Zardari.

Journalist Samiullah Abraham alias Sami Ibrahim however was seeking disqualification of the information minister as well.

Zaman and Dar had filed petitions in January 2019, challenging the appointment of Zardari as MNA alleging that the former president is not honest and sagacious as he did not mention his New York flat in the nomination forms submitted in 2018.

Similarly, TV anchor Ibrahim alleged that the federal information minister failed to mention his properties in Lahore and Jhelum in the 2018 nomination papers.

Justice Minallah through a short order dismissed all the three petitions.

He, however, observed that “the court is of the opinion that exercising its extraordinary discretionary jurisdiction under Article 199 of the Constitution is not in public interest and violative of fundamental rights of the people at large.”

The short order states: “political parties and citizens are expected to settle political disputes without involving the judicial branch of the state. Disqualification of chosen representatives by the judicial branch of the State in exercise of extraordinary discretionary constitutional powers is likely to cause miscarriage of justice, rather than advancing the cause of justice.”

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2022