The Peshawar High Court, through a temporary order, has reversed the Election Commission of Pakistan's decision on PTI's intra-party elections and withdrawal of the electoral symbol. However, the order did not come without some contradiction between the court's observations and decisions.
This was discussed during Naya Daur TV's latest episode, [Khabar Say Aagay].
During the episode, journalist and analyst Imran Waseem said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had moved the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) verdict on intra-party elections and symbols. However, he said that the way the court acted in the case was interesting.
He said that a single-member bench of the PHC admitted that a division bench should hear the case. Despite this observation, the court not only ruled in favour of PTI but also gave a late date for the next hearing of the case, providing an extended relief for the PTI.
He said that the judge observed that since the government's representative had argued the government's view, it must now issue an order; otherwise, it would have referred the matter to a division bench.
Shah Mehmood's detention
On the detention of Shah Mehmood Qureshi under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO), it indicates that, at the moment, the PTI Senior Vice Chairman's release is not desired by the relevant quarters hence the detention order was issued; Waseem said.
Asked about the issue where the federal capital's police chief and deputy commissioner are not changed despite ECP orders, Waseem suggested that it would only further raise questions about the ability of the ECP to hold free, fair and transparent elections in the country.
PML-N - IPP deal under threat
Journalist Sajjad Enwar disclosed that apart from conflicts over other seats of former-PTI members who were promised they would be accommodated in the new setup if they left the PTI to join Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) or other parties, there are issues over the seats of IPP Chairman Jahangir Tareen and IPP President Abdul Aleem Khan.
Enwar said that a PML-N worker, who beat Tareen in by-elections, has confidently asserted to Nawaz Sharif that they will be able to retain the seat, come what may.
Moreover, the seat from which Aleem Khan was to contest is the same seat from which Maryam Nawaz will be contesting. This has put talks of an alliance in jeopardy.
There is also a severe dispute within the PML-N over Talal Chaudhry's constituency. Talal is a heavyweight for PML-N, while PTI is fielding Nawab Sher Wazir. Enwar said that per his information, there has been a lot of back and forth over it in PML-N between the two groups.
He said that the formula that was created for Punjab is under threat.
While PML-N is trying to avoid the traps set up against them, they will still end up with some losses.