| I can't keep track of everything the Sharifs are doing. I do know that they're getting pretty tiresome already. They keep it up and I'm going to start having some sympathy for Perv ... |
The court, however, refused to issue an order restraining Mian Shahbaz Sharif from taking oath as chief minister of Punjab. The court observed that it would be unfair to issue the restraining order without hearing Shahbaz Sharif. It decided to serve notices on the federal government, Election Commission, Sharif and returning officer for the PP-48 Bhakkar II constituency from where he has been elected unopposed.
A two-member SC bench comprising Justic Mohammad Moosa K. Leghari and Justice Mohammad Farrukh Mahmud took up a petition of Syed Khurram Shah, a voter, seeking suspension of Election Commission's notification declaring Sharif a successful candidate. The apex court will resume the hearing tomorrow. The Election Commission had declared PML-N leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif qualified to contest the by-elections. Shahbaz Sharif was elected unopposed on June 2 after three other candidates withdrew from the contest.
"He (Shahbaz) is not competent to sit and represent the people of his constituency because he is a defaulter and accused of maligning both the judiciary and the armed forces through his statements contrary to provisions of the Constitution and the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1976," Advocate Ahmad Raza Khan Qasuri, legal counsel for the petitioner, told reporters. "We are not burdening the apex court to go into the merit of the case as the main petition is pending before the high court, rather seeking suspension of the ECP notification," Mr Qasuri said.
Sharifs have been consistently refusing to plead their case in courts reconstituted by Musharraf under the Provisional Constitution Order promulgated after he imposed the emergency on November 3 and purged superior courts of 60 judges. ShahbazÂ’s refusal to appear before the Supreme Court tomorrow may lead to his ex-parte disqualification by the court.