CJP Isa says PTI 'committed suicide' by merging with SIC

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa expressed confusion on Monday over Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)'s decision to merge with the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) before the February 8 elections, describing it as "committing suicide."

This remark came during a hearing of the SIC's petition, which is allied with PTI, challenging the Peshawar High Court's (PHC) decision to deny reserved seats for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies.

A full court 13-member bench, led by CJP Isa, questioned why independent candidates left PTI to join SIC, which weakened their position. PTI had allied with SIC after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) stripped PTI of its electoral symbol, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court.

Despite this alliance, the ECP did not allocate reserved seats to SIC due to its failure to submit a candidate list on time. SIC and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly speaker then appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn the PHC's verdict and allocate 67 women and 11 minority seats.

In May, a three-member Supreme Court bench suspended the PHC's decision and referred the matter to a larger bench for constitutional interpretation. The ECP responded last week, stating that SIC does not qualify for reserved seats as it doesn't allow non-Muslims as members and missed the candidate submission deadline. SIC also submitted additional documents to the Supreme Court, including notifications of successful National Assembly lawmakers-elect.