A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing a set of petitions challenging the Elections Act 2017, filed by Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is
Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
chief Imran Khan
... aka
Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight...
, Awami Moslem League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the Pakistain Peoples Party and 10 others.
"Can a thief or member of a drug mafia [also] become the head of a party?" the bench asked, as it deliberated a number of points regarding the eligibility of a person to hold a party's top office.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan wondered how a person disqualified by the court over not being sadiq (truthful) and ameen (righteous) and who could not be elected as a member of parliament become a party's head.
But Advocate Salman Akram Raja, who was representing the PML-N, argued that while a person disqualified under Article 62(1)(f) could not be elected to the parliament, the Constitution of the country imposes no bar on such a person to lead a party.
"Do all the basic rights of a disqualified person as a human end with a disqualification?" Raja asked. He asked whether such a person also loses the right to organise and the right to freedom of expression.
"All the rights of such a person remain intact but they cannot become the head [of a party]," remarked Justice Ahsan, to which Raja said that members of a political party could not be prohibited from choosing a party leader of their choice under Articles 17 and 19 of the Constitution.