The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday provided major relief to senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders by halting the disqualification proceedings against Opposition leader in National Assembly Omar Ayub and Opposition leader in Senate Shibli Faraz.
The PHC also granted protective bail to Faraz and Zartaj Gul — both of whom were recently sentenced to 10 years in prison by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in connection with the May 9 2023 riots cases.
Announcing its reserved verdict on a petition against the disqualification of Faraz and Ayub by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday, the PHC stayed the ECP's disqualification notification.
The two-page written order stated that the ECP had failed to provide the petitioners an opportunity to be heard before disqualifying them. The court directed that no further action be taken against Ayub and Faraz until the next hearing, which has been scheduled for August 20.
The order further observed that the petitioners had already surrendered before the relevant courts and obtained protective bail, arguing that their convictions were not yet final. Notices were also issued to the ECP and other relevant parties.
In a parallel development, the PHC granted protective bail to Faraz and Gul until August 11, following their conviction by the ATC in Faisalabad last week. The court directed both leaders to approach the relevant high court to file appeals and barred law-enforcement from arresting them.
The two leaders were among over 100 PTI figures sentenced to prison over their alleged involvement in the May 9 riots, which erupted after the arrest of party founder and former prime minister Imran Khan in 2023.
Following these convictions, the ECP on August 5 issued disqualification notifications against nine PTI lawmakers, declaring vacant one Senate seat, five National Assembly seats, and three Punjab Assembly seats.
Those disqualified included Omar Ayub, Shibli Faraz, Zartaj Gul, Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Junaid Afzal Sahi, Rai Hassan Nawaz, Rai Murtaza Iqbal, Rai Haider Ali, and Ansar Iqbal. The PHC, however, has now put a temporary halt to this disqualification process in response to petitions filed by the affected lawmakers.
