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18th Amendment case

Posted on: Wed September 29, 2010

Rabbani won t appear before Supreme Court today

ISLAMABAD  : The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms has, in principle, decided that its Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani would not appear before the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday, Business Recorder has learnt. According to sources, this decision was taken in a meeting of the Committee held here on Tuesday under its Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani at Parliament House.

Senators Haji Muhmmad Adeel, Muhammamd Ishaq Dar, Shahid Hussain Bguti, Rehmatullah Kakar, Afrasiab Khattak and other participated in the meeting. The 17-member larger bench of Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is hearing petitions challenging 18th Constitutional Amendment.

The sources said the members have decided that there is no need to appear before the apex court because it did not summon them for this purpose. The sources said that the Committee decided to inform Attorney General of Pakistan in writing about its decision.

The sources said that members of PML-N, ANP and PML-Q have asked Mian Raza Rabbini not to appear before the Supreme Court on Wednesday. When contacted, Haji Adeel told Business Recorder that the Committee had decided not to appear before the apex court because it was not called by the court.

Earlier, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry rejected on Monday a perception that it had summoned any parliamentarian and clarified that Senator Raza Rabbani, the head of a parliamentary committee which drafted the amendment, had himself shown his desire to appear before the court. The chief justice had made it clear that the court had never summoned Rabbani and asked Attorney General Molvi Anwarul Haq to consult the senator if he intended to appear before it on Wednesday. Otherwise, the court would close the proceedings on the amendment within this week.

Courtesy : Business Recorder