ISLAMABAD: The Sup­reme Court on Wed­nesday rejected a plea seeking the disqualification of former federal minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar and provincial minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht, both PTI leaders.

While dismissing the petition filed by Mohammad Ahsan Abid, the SC bench comprising Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Ayesha Malik wondered as if he believed three “useless” people were sitting in the bench.

“The way the petitioner is behaving before the court amounts to insult to the court,” a bench member remarked.

The petitioner could only explain how he believed the Makhdoom brothers had am­­assed assets beyond known sources of income. Justice Ahsan reminded him that he also had failed to furnish any evidence of concealm­ent of assets before the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Earlier on March 22, last year, a similar petition filed under Article 63A(5) of the Constitution was returned by the court office for being not maintainable on the gro­unds that an appeal under this article only lies against the ECP declaration about defection of a lawmaker.

However, in a chamber hearing against the return of the petition, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had held that court’s registrar did not enjoy any power under the SC Rules of 1980 to decide about the maintainability of a petition or an appeal.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2022