ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC), Monday, issued notices to the secretary President of Pakistan and the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) in a petition challenging the Election Amendment Ordinance, 2022.
A single bench of Justice Aamer Farooq heard the petition moved by Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, former chairman of a UC of Islamabad. The bench issued notices to the respondents and directed them to submit their response in this matter.
After issuing the directions, the bench deferred the hearing till March 15 for further proceedings.
The petitioner moved the court through advocate Adil Aziz Qazi and cited the president of Pakistan through his secretary, Federation of Pakistan through secretary Ministry of Law and Federation of Pakistan through secretary Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage as respondents.
The petitioner has challenged the promulgation of Elections (Amendment) Ordinance, 2022, whereby, certain amendments have been made in the existing Elections Act, 2017.
He adopted that through the said ordinance, the respondents have tried to sneak amendments into the existing laws at the eleventh hour when only one day before promulgation of the ordinance, the Upper House of the Legislature was in session.
Elections (Amendment) Ordinance 2022: Govt dismisses concerns of ECP
He added, “It appears that the respondents had already prepared the draft of the Ordinance and were waiting for the ongoing session to expire in order to avoid the due process of legislation.”
Petitioner’s counsel Adil Aziz informed the court that through the said Ordinance a new section namely, 181(A) has been inserted in the Act, which provides that a Member of Parliament, provincial assembly, or local government including member holding any other office under Constitution may visit public meetings in any area or constituency during election campaign.
Adil stated that the petitioner being responsible citizens of Pakistan is directly aggrieved with the promulgation of the said ordinance and in order to protect the rights of the people of Pakistan with respect to freedom of association and expression, hereby assail and impugn the vires of the Ordinance.
He argued, “The said ordinance has been promulgated without passing the necessary tests imposed under the constitution of Pakistan for legislation through the mode and manner of Ordinances.”
He also argued that the Promulgation of the Ordinance is based on malice and required conditions have not been met by the respondents. Adil contended, “The issuance of Ordinance is going to hamper the right of freedom of association which is one of the fundamentals of a healthy democracy and to create an environment where people of the country are penalised for speaking their heart out, to express their opinion, to present facts before the general public, is against the democratic values given by not only the constitution of Pakistan but the world over.”
He further said that no country can survive the authoritarian conduct of the governments where the people are subjected to imprisonment only for exercising their fundamental right to express themselves. He maintained that the amendment is a crude attempt by the respondents to browbeat its opponents during the election process and the petitioner seeks intervention of this court for protection of fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan.
He prayed that the promulgation of the impugned Elections (Amendment) Ordinance, 2022 be declared as ultra-vires to the entire scheme of Constitution and the fundamental rights of the people.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
Comments
Comments are closed.