{"id":48265,"date":"2024-01-15T18:05:05","date_gmt":"2024-01-15T18:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/ptis-gohar-khan-fears-horse-trading-following-sc-verdict-on-bat\/"},"modified":"2024-01-15T18:05:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T18:05:05","slug":"ptis-gohar-khan-fears-horse-trading-following-sc-verdict-on-bat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/ptis-gohar-khan-fears-horse-trading-following-sc-verdict-on-bat\/","title":{"rendered":"PTI\u2019s Gohar Khan fears horse-trading following SC verdict on \u2018bat\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p>PTI leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Monday expressed fear that the Supreme Court\u2019s decision on the party\u2019s iconic electoral symbol \u2018bat\u2019 could increase horse-trading.<\/p>\n<p>His statement comes after a three-member Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1805686\/pti-loses-battle-for-bat-as-ecp-prevails-in-sc\">upheld<\/a> the Election Commission of Pakistan\u2019s (ECP) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1800094\">Dec 22 decision<\/a> to declare the PTI\u2019s intra-party polls as \u201cunconstitutional\u201d and revoke its \u2018bat\u2019 symbol.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1805562\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>As a result, the party\u2019s members will now be contesting the elections as independent candidates with different electoral symbols and the party no longer has the right to reserved seats for women and minorities.<\/p>\n<p>During an interview on <em>Geo News<\/em> programme \u2018Capital Talk\u2019 today, Barrister Gohar was questioned whether the apex court\u2019s verdict would lead to an increase in horse-trading and floor crossing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis [verdict] will definitely lead to a rise in horse-trading. How will it not?\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n<p>Barrister Gohar explained that elections for the Senate, prime minister, president, National Assembly speaker and deputy speaker, chief ministers etc. would need to be held and votes from independent candidates would play an important role in them.<\/p>\n<p>Providing an example, he said the prime minister needed 172 votes to win, adding that if a candidate even had 70 votes then they would be able to become premier by securing 100 more from the independents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou will get the votes for free because you eliminated one party \u2026 whoever has more money will collect votes from there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, Barrister Gohar expressed hope that independent candidates affiliated with the PTI would remain loyal to it, adding that the party also had a \u201cplan C\u201d for regaining its lost reserved seats.<\/p>\n<p>He explained that if independent candidates affiliated with the PTI joined it again after the party reformed itself, then the party would regain its reserved seats.<\/p>\n<p>Elaborating on the party\u2019s February 8 election strategy, Barrister Gohar said the party would widely circulate the election symbols of candidates affiliated with it so the people would know who to vote for.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere will be an unbelievable turnout this time on Feb 8 because all that has happened with us is now in the public\u2019s domain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also said enough was enough and now there should be a \u201cceasefire\u201d in the political arena so free and fair elections could be held.<\/p>\n<p>Talking about his interaction with PTI chief Imran Khan in Adiala Jail, Barrister Gohar said the former expressed disappointment with the apex court verdict.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHate should not be so much that a person can no longer do justice,\u201d he quoted Imran as saying.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, Barrister Gohar said Imran gave a message for all party supporters to not worry and fully participate in the elections.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, while talking to the media outside Adiala Jail, Gohar said the PTI would issue a list of party-affiliated candidates, with their respective electoral symbols, within three days. He requested the nation to vote for these candidates in the upcoming polls.<\/p>\n<p>He said the SC verdict had affected the fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan. \u201cA conspiracy against democracy has succeeded, this is a huge loss for democracy and [this decision] will give birth to a new wave of corruption,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n<p>He added that even though the apex court\u2019s decision was final, it won\u2019t stop the party. \u201cWe won\u2019t boycott elections and God willing fully participate in them,\u201d Barrister Gohar vowed.<\/p>\n<p>He further stated that the party would definitely file a review appeal against the SC judgment, noting that a five-member apex court bench should have heard the matter as the case concerned <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link--external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pakistani.org\/pakistan\/constitution\/part2.ch1.html#:~:text=17.&amp;text=Every%20citizen%20shall%20have%20the%20right%20to%20form%20associations%20or,Pakistan%2C%20public%20order%20or%20morality.\">Article 17 of the Constitution<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The article states that every citizen \u201cshall have the right to form associations or unions, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan, public order or morality\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1805614\">raid at his residence<\/a> over the weekend, the PTI leader said he was satisfied with the investigation underway. \u201cWe have been facing this, but it should stop now and we should proceed towards elections,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"pti-withdraws-plea-seeking-contempt-proceedings-against-ecp-from-sc\" href=\"#pti-withdraws-plea-seeking-contempt-proceedings-against-ecp-from-sc\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"\/>PTI withdraws plea seeking contempt proceedings against ECP from SC<\/h2>\n<p>Earlier today, the PTI withdrew its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1801010\/pti-moves-contempt-petition-against-ecp-in-apex-court\">plea<\/a> seeking contempt proceedings against the ECP for allegedly not implementing the SC\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1799936\">orders<\/a> of providing the party with a level playing field for the upcoming general elections.<\/p>\n<p>On Dec 26, the PTI had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1801010\/pti-moves-contempt-petition-against-ecp-in-apex-court\">filed<\/a> a contempt plea before the SC, alleging that the ECP had not complied with the court\u2019s orders, wherein it had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1799936\">directed<\/a> the ECP to address its grievances on an urgent basis to ensure that the electoral process remained \u201csmooth, open, transparent, free and fair\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The case was being heard by a three-member bench, led by CJP Isa and comprising justices Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Musarrat Hilali.<\/p>\n<p>In its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1803898\">response<\/a> to the top court, the election commission on January 7 had said that 76 per cent of the nomination papers filed by PTI candidates for the upcoming elections had been accepted, negating the party\u2019s allegations of a lack of level playing field in the run-up to polls.<\/p>\n<p>As the apex court resumed hearing the contempt plea today, the PTI informed the court that it was withdrawing its petition, saying that the party had \u201cno expectations from the ECP\u201d and was \u201cgoing to the public\u201d. Subsequently, the SC disposed of the plea.<\/p>\n<p>During today\u2019s hearing, CJP Isa recalled that the court had issued directives to the state after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1805758\">raid<\/a> on PTI leader Gohar Ali Khan\u2019s house. He further said that despite asking the PTI leader to write a letter in case he was not satisfied with the police inquiry, no such response had been submitted as yet.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the top judge, Khosa said, \u201cWe ran a movement for your sake, sacrificed our blood. If a difficult time arrives even today, we are ready to sacrifice our lives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe came seeking a level playing field but you took away the \u2018field\u2019 itself. You announced a verdict at 11:30pm on January 13 that scattered the PTI and took away 230 [reserved] seats,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n<p>In response, Justice Isa recalled that the court had repeatedly asked the PTI lawyers to show documental evidence of the intra-party polls, adding that the SC had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1786006\">ordered<\/a> for the general elections to not be delayed on a PTI plea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur job is to hold the polls as per the law,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do not make the law [but] have it implemented. If you do not like the law, then change it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Here, Khosa argued that the Awami National Party\u2019s (ANP) electoral symbol had been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1805671\/without-holding-intra-party-polls-anp-gets-lantern\">restored<\/a> last week without holding the intra-party polls, asking, \u201cWhy was the PTI not given [its symbol]?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The chief justice responded that it emerged recently that the ANP had time left to conduct its intra-party polls according to its party constitution, hence it was given its symbol back. \u201cKhosa <em>sahib<\/em>, this is not the right manner. You are a senior lawyer. You are damaging all institutions of Pakistan,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow how can we expect that we will get a level playing field? We now want to go before the court of 250m people. We have no expectations from the election commission,\u201d Khosa said.<\/p>\n<p>Here, CJP Isa said, \u201cIf you want to accept the court order, do so. If you do not want to, don\u2019t. Do not put the burden of the Supreme Court\u2019s decision on us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The PTI leader said that as a result of losing the party symbol, its candidates would now have to contest the elections independently and would be confused due to the different symbols.<\/p>\n<p>At one point, Justice Hilali also asked Khosa, \u201cDo you think that the elections are not transparent?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lawyer responded by saying that they were \u201ccompletely unfair\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The CJP said, \u201cThe court can give orders but not become the government.\u201d He also told the PTI lawyer to file a petition if they had objections on the intra-party polls of another political party.<\/p>\n<p>Justice Hilali then asked the ECP officials whether the electoral watchdog was unfair. \u201cWhy are you running after one political party? Why cannot you see other political parties?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The court then asked Khosa about an alliance the PTI had made, to which the leader replied, \u201cThis is what I am telling you; we were not even allowed to form an alliance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe chief of the party with which we allied was picked up and made to hold a press conference,\u201d Khosa alleged, referring to PTI-Nazriati Chairman Akbar Iqbal Dar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1805534\">denying<\/a> allowing PTI leaders to contest the polls on its \u2018batsman\u2019 symbol.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPreparations are being made to register cases against us for forming an alliance. Your [SC\u2019s] verdict has expelled us from parliamentary politics,\u201d the PTI counsel said.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"sc-verdict-black-day-for-democracy-latif-khosa\" href=\"#sc-verdict-black-day-for-democracy-latif-khosa\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"\/>SC verdict \u2018black day for democracy\u2019: Latif Khosa<\/h2>\n<p>Speaking outside the apex court, Khosa lamented that the SC\u2019s verdict of upholding the ECP decision had \u201cdestroyed democracy\u201d, terming it a \u201cblack day for democracy\u201d. He added it was \u201cequivalent to depriving the 25 million Pakistanis of their right of franchise\u201d.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  w-full  w-full  media--stretch  media--embed  \">\n<p><div class=\"ast-oembed-container \" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe title=\"\ud83d\udd34LIVE | PTI Leader Latif Khosa Talks To Media | Dawn News Live\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RNdu7_nDF1w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>He recalled incidents of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/amp\/1805626\">arrests<\/a> as well as those where nomination papers of PTI candidates were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1799807\">snatched<\/a>. The PTI leader said that in his response to the SC, the Islamabad police chief had denied those incidents and asserted that there had been \u201cno unpleasant\u201d events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat can be a bigger joke than my son being arrested from outside my office as he was also a candidate and the [Lahore] High Court\u2019s Justice Baqar Najafi <em>sahib<\/em> observed that he was arrested in relation to the elections and was based on mala fide,\u201d the PTI leader said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1804807\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>He added that when he had urged Justice Isa to see the affidavits and CDs attached as evidence of such incidents, he had replied \u201cno, not right now\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking about the electoral symbol saga, Khosa asserted that the PTI held its intra-party polls according to its party constitution within the 20-day period the ECP had given it. Referring to the petitioners who had challenged the intra-party elections, he said, \u201cThose 13 people lied [as if] they are representing our 20-25 million members. They are not even PTI members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan Akbar S. Babar compete with Imran Khan? He cannot even compete with an ordinary party worker. [\u2026] Tell me, has any candidate come forward against Bilawal, Asif Ali Zardari [or] Nawaz Sharif? You can see all parties,\u201d the lawyer said.<\/p>\n<p>The PTI leader said that when a political party\u2019s executive body makes a decision to appoint its office-holders, \u201cit usually happens that no one challenges it\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Khosa further said that talks with the PTI-N chief had been under way for \u201cmany days\u201d and seven seats that he had asked for had also been given to his party.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKeep in mind that the party has not been banned and God-willing, it would be elected and will rise.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PTI leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Monday expressed fear that the Supreme Court\u2019s decision on the party\u2019s iconic electoral symbol \u2018bat\u2019 could increase horse-trading. His statement comes after a three-member Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan\u2019s (ECP) Dec 22 decision to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/01\/15170419be5b7f7.png?r=170618","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}