ISLAMABAD – In its judgement, the SC observed: “To hold that a person whois disqualified to be king can nevertheless be given a freehand to operateas a kingmaker, who may despite lacking qualification and without goingthrough the electoral process, act as a puppet master pull the strings andexercise political power vicariously would amount to making a completemockery of the Constitution.”
The Supreme Court issued a detailed judgement on its verdict against theElection Act 2017 and the disqualification of former prime minister NawazSharif as head of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar authored the 51-pagejudgement on the verdict.
The court observed that the election of a disqualified person who can’t be‘king’ can also not be given the freehand to act as a ‘kingmaker’. The SCfurther added that all political parties are bound to “high ethicalstandards.”
“The court noted that morality is a part and parcel of the Islamic Ideologyof Pakistan and is included in the expression, “integrity of Pakistan”.This is in line with the theme and underlying spirit of the ObjectivesResolution,” the judgement read.
“No civilized society can deny this standard of morality,” the courtobserved in its judgement. “To leave the political parties entirely free todo as they please is to suggest that morality does not matter.”
The judgement further stated that such situations might prove “ultimatelysubversive to the fabric of the state in the maintenance of law and order,”and that therefore, political parties should conform to stringent“obligations of high ethical standards.”
On February 20, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified frombeing the head of the PML-N.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar andcomprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, issued ashort order on Wednesday, on petitions filed against Sharif’s holding ofthe party position after his disqualification in the Panama Papers case.
In its five-page order, read by Chief Justice Nisar, the court declaresthat any person who is disqualified under the Article 62 or 63 of theConstitution is barred from holding the position of “Party Head” bywhatever name called.