SC to hear Faizabad sit-in review petitions on Nov 1

ISLAMABAD: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) would take up Faizabad sit-in review petitions for hearing on November 1.

The bench would be presided over by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa. The Registrar’s office of the top court had issued notices to respondents including the Attorney General of Pakistan.

It may be mentioned here that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) and others had already filed applications to withdraw the review petitions.

SC’s written order

Earlier in the month, the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) issued a detailed four-page written order inviting all the concerned parties to clarify their positions in the Faizabad sit-in case.

Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa of the Supreme Court of Pakistan issued a detailed written order consisting of four pages in the Faizabad sit-in case.

Related: Government also withdraws Faizabad sit-in review plea

The written order – which was issued on the hearing of September 28 – not only addressed the pending issues but also offered both parties involved an opportunity to present further evidence and clarification.

During the hearing, the court raised several key points including why the case was not scheduled for hearing despite delaying for four years.

Furthermore, the court questioned about the reasons for filing and withdrawal of reconsideration plea by the authorities.

The written order further questioned why was the court’s decision is not yet followed after the span of four years in the Faizabad sit-in case.

According to the court order, the SC gave both parties another chance to address these questions before the court to clarify their positions.

Read: CJP Faiz Isa fixes Faizabad sit-in review case for hearing

Ministry of Defence, PEMRA, and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) requested to reconsider their request for the review. However, the Attorney General expressed that the Ministry of Defence did not intend to pursue further action on its plea. Similarly, the IB, and PEMRA also sought to withdraw their petition.

The court considered these viewpoints of general public and noted that paragraph 17 of the Faizabad sit-in case ruling was particularly causing confusion to the general public.

The Attorney General argued that the Faizabad sit-in case should not be expanded beyond its initial scope and timeframe.

Meanwhile, the court set a deadline of October 27, 2023 for the concerned parties to submit their responses, while the Supreme Court scheduled the next hearing in the Faizabad sit-in case for November 1, 2023.

About Faizabad Sit-in

Back in November 08, 2017, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) organized a sit-in at Faizabad interchange against the amendments in the Election Bill 2017, changing the word oath to declaration.

The protesters demanded the resignation of Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid to “protect the identity of the country”.

The protestors achieved their objective as the Pakistani law minister Zahid Hamid stepped down from his position on November 27, 2017 culminating in an end to the protests that continued for 20 days without harm.

Despite of all the warnings given out by various religious groups about the sensitivity of the matter, because of the violence and the disturbance caused by the protesters the Pakistani government was forced to use its power against the protestors.