ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Saturday disposed of a petition moved to seek production order for detained lawmaker Mohammad Ali Wazir to allow him to participate in the voting on the no-trust motion against the prime minister, a day after the National Assembly Secretariat finally issued his production order to attend the April 3 session of the lower house of parliament.
Ali Wazir, who belongs to the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), was elected to the National Assembly as an independent candidate from South Waziristan constituency (NA-50) in July 2018 elections. He has been under detention since December 2020 on various charges.
Speaking to Dawn, the counsel for petitioner Mohsin Javed Dawar, Sardar Shahbaz Ali Khan Khosa, quoted Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan as saying during the chambers hearing that the petition could not be kept pending, but the petitioner had every right to approach the SC again in case of any hindrance to stop the member from participating in the voting process on the no-trust motion.
The counsel had appeared before Justice Ahsan in his chambers and apprised him that MNA Wazir was stopped last time also when he was being taken to the parliament. Justice Ahsan observed that since the production order had been issued by the National Assembly Secretariat and communicated to all the relevant authorities, the courts could be approached for remedy in case any hindrance was created.
Soon after the chamber hearing, Mr Dawar told the media that the Sindh government had stopped MNA Wazir at the airport last time. However, he explained, this time the petition was moved after consulting Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. He regretted that the government was trying to delay the voting process.
The petitioner had pleaded before the apex court that MNA Wazir would suffer irreparable loss and a democratic process would be hampered if he was not allowed to participate in the voting. He explained that the case was directly being filed before the apex court since the matter was of urgent nature besides the Islamabad High Court, Islamabad, had already taken a contradictory view to the recent 2019 judgements of the IHC and therefore in negation to the principles settled by Supreme Court.
The present case pertains to the future of the country and public at large and therefore the interest of justice demands that the present case may be graciously entertained and an authoritative pronouncement on the subject be made.
The petitioner alleged that the prime minister had indulged himself in a campaign that did not seem in consonance with the public policy, safety and integrity of the motherland. The weak policies of the ruling party had resulted into overburdening the general public with heavy taxes, inflation and for the purpose of safeguarding the rights of the general public, the opposition has decided to go for vote of no confidence.
Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2022
