'SC can't alter Constitution, only parliament can': Sanaullah on reserved seats' verdict

• The SC ruling to 'open front door for horse-trading': Rana Sanaullah.
• Says "no vagueness in Constitution about reserved seats allocation".
• Imran Khan would spread anarchy after coming out of jail: PM's aide.

Commenting on the recent Supreme Court’s verdict on reserved seats’ case, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Political and Public Affairs Rana Sanaullah has said that the ruling does not match the clear orders written in the Constitution for independent candidates who are willing to join political parties.

The senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) criticised the top court’s verdict for which he claimed that it violated Article 51 and relevant clauses which clearly bound independent candidates to join political parties within three days after elections.

Sanaullah was talking to Geo News programme Naya Pakistan on Sunday in which he emphasised that the Constitution provides clear instructions for dealing with independent candidates and the allocation of reserved seats among political parties without any vagueness.

While expressing his views, the senior politico claimed that the top court’s bench mentioned in their joint judgement that the independent candidates would be given 15 days to join political parties, which went above the Constitution.

He also criticised the ruling for granting two more weeks to process the independent candidates’ affiliations to their desired political parties.

The PM’s aide also censured that the verdict would be tantamount to “opening the front gate for horse-trading”. 

“The judiciary cannot alter the Constitutions, but parliament can,” he added.

In a major legal victory for the Imran Khan-founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the "party is eligible for the allocation of reserved seats".

The decision has not only paved the way for the PTI's return to parliament, which was kicked out of the February 8 polls owing to the ECP's December 2023 ruling, but has also increased the pressure on the coalition alliance by changing the composition of the National Assembly.

Regarding the incarcerated PTI founder’s arrest in new cases, Sanaullah said that Imran Khan would do nothing but spread anarchy and political chaos in the country after coming out of jail.

He added that it would be better not to release the former prime minister to bring political and economic stability to the country.

Sanaullah also blamed the PTI for organising the May 9, 2023 riots and running a campaign against the heads of the defence institutions.

He said that the prosecution had an equal right to pursue trials like the former premier possessed the right to defend himself. The lawyer-cum-politician said that no one had stopped the PTI founder from knocking on the doors of the courts against his arrest.

Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were arrested in a new NAB reference related to Toshakhana gifts yesterday soon after getting acquitted in the iddat case — also known as the un-Islamic nikah case — which was the last hurdle in the couple's release from jail.

The couple was sentenced to seven years in prison and awarded a fine of Rs500,000 each, in February this year after a trial court found their nikah to be fraudulent as Khawar Maneka, Bushra's ex-husband, moved the court against the couple's marriage.