PTI Lawyers Move Supreme Court to Benefit from 26th Constitutional Amendment

1. Islamabad:In a surprising turn of events, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which has vehemently opposed the 26th Constitutional Amendment, has quickly moved to capitalize on its implementation by filing a case in the Supreme Court.

On the previous day, both the Senate and the National Assembly approved the 26th Constitutional Amendment, which came into effect immediately following the President’s signature. Despite PTI’s relentless efforts to challenge the amendment, its legal representatives wasted no time in leveraging its provisions to their advantage.

In a recent intra-party election review case, PTI lawyers raised objections against the Supreme Court bench, arguing that following the amendment, the bench is no longer authorized to hear the review case. This is not the first instance of PTI seeking to benefit from legislation it has fought against.

In 2022, PTI strongly opposed the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) amendments to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws. However, in 2023, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in favor of these amendments. Following the Supreme Court’s reinstatement of the NAB amendments in September 2024, PTI lawyers promptly approached the court to secure relief for the party’s founder, Imran Khan, in a 190 million-pound case, asserting that the case no longer stood following the recent amendments.

Similarly, on September 9, in connection with the new Toshakhana case, PTI lawyers successfully petitioned to transfer their case from the accountability court to the Special Judge Central under the same amendments.

This pattern of utilizing legal frameworks that the party has actively opposed raises questions about PTI’s legal strategy and its implications for the ongoing political landscape in Pakistan.