The Supreme Court has quashed the Lahore High Court's (LHC) verdict that suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to recruit returning and district returning officers from the bureaucracy on a petition of Barrister Niazi of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
While speaking at a program on Naya Daur TV, senior analyst Muzamal Suharwardy said that the apex court has issued a contempt notice to petitioner Barrister Umair Niazi, adding that the notice should have been issued to Justice Baqar Najafi, who announced the verdict.
The analyst said that efforts to facilitate the PTI are being made from within the judiciary, adding that the facilitators are waiting for the retirement of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faiz Isa, and after October 2024, the PTI will start getting facilitation from the judiciary again.
Suharwardy said that currently, the situation is so bad for the PTI that no one is willing to take its ticket even for free, which was worth Rs 3 crore during the tenure of former chief justice Umar Ata Bandial.
While responding to a question about the Supreme Court's refusal to issue a notice to former Chief of Army Staff General (retired) Qamar Javed Bajwa and terming IHC-deposed judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui's allegations of political engineering against him as hearsay, the analyst said that Siddiqui ruined his case by naming some retired army generals and some former judges as parties in the case against his removal. He added that he should have named only Lt. Gen. (retired) Faez Hameed as a party in the case.
The analyst said that Siddiqui appeared on talk shows effectively but failed to file a strong case to defend his points.