Azam Tarar, the counsel for Nawaz Sharif, told the bench that he was asked to appear before the court in this case on Tuesday evening. He asked for three days to prepare his arguments. However, the court accepting his request gave him one week to study the case. Appearing before the court, senior lawyer Asma Jahangir said: "There are some people who are affected by Article 62(1)(f) and these ordinary people want to be part of this case as well." In response, the Chief Justice said that such people can jointly appoint a lawyer to represent them in the case.
During the course of hearing the Chief Justice wondered whether a person disqualified by the court can contest by-elections, given that the elections are held within three months of his or her disqualification. "Disqualification lasts for five years," Tariq Mahmood, the counsel representing Samina Khawar Hayat, who was disqualified in a fake degree case in 2013, told the bench. Mahmood also recalled that the court had disqualified Pervez Musharraf for life in 2013.
Munir A Malik, serving the court as amicus curiae, began his arguments, stating that Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution should be read in a manner that foundational rights are not affected. "The Constitution is based on fundamental rights," he said, adding that lifelong disqualification is a violation of basic human rights.
The clauses under Article 63 are distributed into two parts; the first part relates to continued mistakes and the second to past mistakes in conduct, Malik explained. He noted that after the 18th Amendment, changes were made in the clauses under Article 63. "Before the 18th Amendment, past mistakes in conduct would result in disqualification for life," he said.
Malik said that there are no differences between Article 62 and Article 63; adding that in the latter, under the 18th Amendment, the period of disqualification was changed to last five years. "When the court disqualifies a person under Article 62, it is a declaration by the court, not a sentence," Justice Sheikh Azmat observed. "What will be the effect of Article 62(1)(f) in such a case?"
"No trial can be conducted on writ of quo warranto," Malik told the judge. "We will have to see for how long curbs to contest elections apply on disqualified individuals."
Taking up 17 appeals against the disqualification of lawmakers, the SC had issued notices to Nawaz Sharif and former secretary general Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Jahangir Khan Tareen to appear in person or through their counsel during the hearing of appeals involving the interpretation of Article 62(1)(f) - the provision under which both had been disqualified.
While Tareen was present in the court for the hearing on Tuesday, the PML-N head was not, as he had to appear in an Accountability Court. The Article 62(1)(f) says, "A person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) unless [...] he is sagacious, righteous and non-profligate, Sadiq and Ameen, there being no declaration to the contrary by a court of law." The article, however, does not specify any period after which a person, who is declared disqualified under Article 62, can be eligible to contest elections of the Parliament.