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Hearing in PCO petitions from tomorrow

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court secretariat has issued the cause list concerning the petitions questioning the validity of the proclamation of emergency and the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) of 1999 which the full court will take up again from Wednesday.

The full court comprises 12 judges and they are to hear the counsel for main petitioner, the Pakistan Muslim League sum up his 80 old arguments on that day. The cause list posted here on Monday advances the time of hearing by half an hour as the Court will now assemble at 9 a m instead of traditional 9.30 a m giving Khalid Anwer an extra time.

The next on the list is the petition of Mohammad Habib-al-Wahab-al Khairi of Jehad Trust who seeks restoration of the Constitution to the extent of judiciary. He will be followed by Moulvi Syed Iqbal Haider of the Muslim Welfare Movement who wants the Court to order the restoration of the Senate and the Assemblies.

The last petitioner, Shahid Orakzai has prayed in unison to Iqbal Haider with a difference that after Senate he wants the restoration of the offices of the Speakers of the National and Provincial Assemblies.

In between will be the turn of a former deputy Inspector General of Police, Fazal Ellahi Siddiqui and then Syed Imtiaz Bukhari who want outright rejection of the PCO. The government is being represented by Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, Senior Adviser to the Chief Executive, Federal Law Minister Aziz Munshi, his wo deputies, the Advocates General of the four provinces.

The government has also summoned S M Zafar as Amicus Curiae, president of the Supreme Court Bar Council, vice chairman of Pakistan and also of the provincial bar councils, presidents of the High Court bar associations at Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta.

In a footnote to the cause list, the Deputy Registrar, Budha Khan said the cases will be heard on day to day basis and no adjournment on any ground will be granted. The hearing is expected to run through the current month.