Supreme Court gives time to Manzoor Wassan for hiring counsel

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday gave time to Pakistan Peoples Party leader Manzoor Wassan for hiring a counsel to plead his appeal filed against rejection of his nomination papers for contesting the 2018 elections.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah heard the appeal of Wassan. Wassan appeared before the court in person and pealed that he would himself argue his matter and would not seek adjournment as well. He told the court that an election tribunal had rejected his nomination papers for contesting the 2018 elections.

Justice Sajjad Ali Shah told the petitioner that it is a case of concealing foreign assets, adding that he had not shown in his nomination papers 25 per cent shares of his business. “It’s not an easy case and we have gone through your file,” Justice Sajjad Ali Shah told Wassan.

Manzoor Wassan then got a U-turn and submitted that if the learned judges have read the file, he should be given time to hire a counsel to plead his case. The court accepted the request of Wassan and adjourned the hearing

It is pertinent to mention here that Wassan was contesting the 2018 general elections from PS-27 Khairpur, but his nomination papers were rejected by the election tribunal. Later, talking to media outside the court, Wassan said it is likely that someone else will participate in the upcoming March 23 parade instead of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said two months are crucial as Imran Khan will be engulfed by a crisis. He said the prime minister could dissolve the assembly before a no-confidence move, adding that the opposition parties may have differences but they are unanimous on the option of tabling the no-confidence motion. “Due to the prevailing situation, it seems that the no-confidence motion against the prime minister would be successful,” Wassan said, adding that it is likely that the general elections will take place this year.