Court orders oath-taking of minority MPA

peshawar — The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday ordered Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker to administer oath to Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Baldev Kumar who was charged in the murder case of Pakistan Tahrik-e-Insaf lawmaker Sardar Soran Singh from Buner District.

The two-member bench, presided over by Justice Ikramullah Khan and Justice Qalandar Ali Khan, when took up the petition of Baldev Kumar regarding oath-taking as MPA, ordered KP Assembly to swear in Baldev Kumar as an MPA.

The court also issued a notice to KP Assembly Speaker saying why contempt of court proceeding may not be initiated against him for his failure to administer oath to Kumar despite clear orders of the court and adjourned the case till March 6. Justice Ikramullah observed that the court has all the powers to suspend results of Senate elections if the KP Assembly does not administer oath to Baldev as MPA on minority seat.

The Senate elections are being held on Saturday.

On February 27, Kumar was produced in the KP Assembly for taking oath as an MPA on the orders of the high court, but he had to be escorted out to the assembly lobby with the help of security personnel when lawmakers strongly protested against him.

On February 8, PHC had directed the KP Assembly Speaker to issue Kumar’s production order so that he can take oath as an MPA on a minority seat in terms of Article 65 of the Constitution.

Baldev Kumar had filed a separate petition with the PHC seeking permission to attend KP Assembly proceedings. Kumar, an accused in Soran Singh’s murder and presently in jail, is facing a trial by an anti-terrorism court in Peshawar.

He was second in the list of PTI’s candidates on a reserved seat for minorities, with Soran Singh being the first, and thus got elevated to the provincial assembly. Soran Singh was killed in April 2016 when he came out of his house in Buner. — APP