Reserved seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to go to families of May 9 martyrs

PESHAWAR: In a bid to solidify its stance on May 9, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Monday decided to allot the reserved seats to the families of the martyrs of May 9.

According to sources, seats reserved for women will be given to the widows of the martyrs of May 9. The widows of Javed Akakhel, Sikandar, Muhammad Bilal, Abrar Ahmad and Javed Gill would be granted reserved seats.

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Sources said that decision was taken on the instructions of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan.

It must be remembered that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had tipped the scales in PTI’s favour by granting reserved seats to the PTI by 8-5 verdict earlier this month.

Going against the grain of its previous decisions regarding the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in the run-up to Feb 8 election, the apex court overturned the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) verdict of depriving the PTI of the reserved seats of non-Muslim and women candidates in assemblies.

The apex court, in its majority 8-5 decision, announced that the conduct of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) regarding reserved seats was ‘unconstitutional’, adding that the PTI would remain intact as a political party even without being assigned an election symbol. The verdict was authored by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah.

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Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Irfan Saadat, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Ali Mazhar have decided in favour of the allotting reserved seats to PTI.

Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Jamal Mandokhail, Justice Naeem Afghan and Justice Aminuddin Khan decided against the PTI, while Justice Yahya Afridi wrote a dissenting note. – INP