ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court on Wednesday admitted for regular hearing the review petition filed by Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), seeking review of the apex court’s order pertaining to delimitations in Karachi.
MQM, the only political party opposing the delimitations, filed a review petition in December against the SC’s verdict on the issue. The petition pleaded that the court’s rulings of November 26 and 28 were in ‘violation’ of the Constitution.
On November 26, a five-member bench of the apex court observed that constituencies in Karachi should be delimited, comprising mixed population to avoid political polarisation.
The five-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, admitted the plea for hearing after Senator Forough Naseem, counsel for MQM, appeared before the court and submitted the review petition after removing the objections raised by the registrar’s office.
According to the MQM review petition, delimitations can only be undertaken after a fresh census. It also points out that the Supreme Court could not interfere with the Election Commission of Pakistan’s discretion, which confirmed on October 24 that there could be no delimitation in Karachi without a fresh census. The petition further says that the apex court ought to have clarified whether delimitations could be carried out without a fresh census or not.
After the hearing, Farrukh Naseem, counsel for MQM, talking to reporters outside the court, said they had no objection to the court’s order, but they had challenged its implementation as according to law, delimitations could not be carried out before census. He said the court itself had ruled in its October 6 2012 verdict that the process should be carried out as per law.