Maulana Fazlur Rehman warns against horse-trading following Supreme Court review on Article 63-A

ISLAMABAD, Oct 03 (SABAH): Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that the Supreme Court’s review on Article 63-A shouldn’t be misused.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman was addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Thursday. JUI-F chief said that there shouldn’t be any match-fixing following the apex court’s verdict on Article 63-A. He also warned against the buying and selling of MPs in the aftermath of SC’s verdict.

The Supreme Court on Thursday accepted the review petitions against the decision on Article 63-A, annulling the ruling that dissident members’ votes should not be counted.

A five-member larger bench, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, heard the review appeal on Article 63-A. The bench announced the short order after hearing arguments of the parties.

The court “unanimously” declared that the vote of dissenting members would be counted [in case of no-confidence motion]. Talking about the proposed constitutional amendment, Fazl said that the government wanted to pass the amendment in haste.

“The political parties continued their deliberations on the 18th amendment for nine months. Now, the government wants to pass the amendment in just 24 hours,” said the veteran politician. The JUI-F chief urged the government to defer the amendment until the consensus is reached among the political parties.

He also urged the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to postpone the protest plan in the wake of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting being held in the country. The chief of JUI-F also condemned the atrocities of Israeli forces in Palestine and Lebanon.