SC verdict on reserved seats: Kundi says federal cabinet to decide on filing review petition

NOWSHERA Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Friday said it was up to the federal cabinet to decide whether the government should appeal the Supreme Court verdict on reserved seats or file a review petition.

Talking to reporters here, he said all the political parties had different opinions about the verdict.

He said that though the Sunni Ittehad Council had filed the appeal against the decision of the Peshawar High Court in the reserved seats case, the Supreme Court had provided relief to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Raising questions over the verdict, he said that were the judges punished, who had awarded the death sentence to Pakistan People’s Party founding chairman and former prime minister Zulikar Ali Bhutto.

He said the PPP co-chairman and President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari spent 11 years behind bars for having committed no crime. He questioned could anybody compensate the PPP leader for the injustice, which was meted out to him? The governor said that the country could not be run on the basis of doctrine of necessity.

He said that the political parties, which were celebrating the Supreme Court verdict today, would criticise similar decisions in the future and would speak against the judges.

The governor said that the PPP was going to convene a jirga in Islamabad to discuss the problems being faced by the residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said that a task force would also be established to highlight the problems of the province and take steps to resolve the issues.

The governor said that a working paper was also being prepared and no effort would be spared to get the rights of the province from the Centre.

He said that he did not need to seek permission from the chief minister, adding that he was performing his duty under the ambit of the Constitution to help the province get its due rights.

The Operation Azm-e-Istehkam would be launched with the approval of the federal government, he said, adding that an all parties conference would be called to evolve consensus on this matter.