ISLAMABAD: Senior counsel Barrister Ali Zafar has clarified that he has yet to file any petition on behalf of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) seeking review of the Supreme Court’s Feb 6 judgement on the sit-in staged by Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pak­istan (TLP) at Raw­alpindi’s Faizabad area in November 2017.

“Some channels and newspapers have wrongly quoted certain paragraphs from somewhere assuming that these were a part of the petition to be filed,” said a statement issued by Ali Zafar.

He told Dawn that the petition on behalf of PTI’s secretary general Arshad Dad was under preparation and would be filed in a couple of days.

The petition being drafted on behalf of the PTI will plead with the Supreme Court to expunge certain remarks from the Feb 6 judgement about the 2014 sit-in staged by the PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT).

The review petition will stress that the suo motu proceedings conducted by the Supreme Court pertained to the 2017 TLP sit-in rather than to the PTI-PAT protest.

The Feb 6 verdict, which referred to the PTI-PAT action in paras 17, 22, 23, 24 and 52, conveyed an impression that the two parties had carried out an unlawful protest for publicity, the petitioner will argue.

Once the Faizabad sit-in was over, the remarks about the PTI-PAT protest were unnecessary and liable to be expunged, according to the petitioner.

The petition will highlight that the PTI-PAT held the dharna (sit-in) for “genuine reasons” and it was in accordance with the fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan.

The review petition will argue that the sit-in was neither for publicity nor for any ulterior motives since the petitioner raised political demands and stood up for the civil rights of the citizens of Pakistan.

The review petition will state that the petitioner had nothing to do with the Faizabad dharna and, therefore, the remarks in the judgement under review should be expunged since these were made without hearing the petitioner.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2019