ISLAMABAD: Justice Ayesha A. Malik of the Pakistan Supreme Court stated on Tuesday that the proportional representation principle cannot be broken when allocating the reserved seats.
During the hearing on the case against the denial of reserved seats for women and minorities submitted by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), an associate of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Justice Malik made these remarks.
The case was tried by a 13-member full court presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa.
Judges Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Muneeb Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Amin-ud-din Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Malik, Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan make up the bench.
During the hearing today, Justice Ayesha questioned, “Whether SIC wins or loses this case, what will other parties benefit from it?” She pointed out that the reserved seats could only be distributed in accordance with the concept of proportional representation, not in violation of it.
Justice Minallah, meantime, asserted that minorities and women ought to be represented in parliament.
He claimed that although the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had previously been impacted, the SC had not offered assistance.
“It is taking place exactly as it did in 2018.” Justice Minallah declared, “One party is the victim,” adding that the court had not taken lessons from the past.
