The Supreme Court Wednesday stayed the operation of the Lahore High Court (LHC) ruling that disqualified former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from contesting the by-election for NA 123 Lahore and stayed the by-poll for this constituency. On a petition filed by the federal government, the apex court issued this order. The court fixed June 30 as the next date of hearing of the petition. It issued notices to Sharif and others. One of the judges remarked that the petition could be decided in two minutes if Sharif appeared before the bench. Deputy Attorney General Raja Abdur Rehman represented the government while Attorney General Malik Qayyum was also present in the court. Prominent lawyers including Akram Sheikh and AK Dogar also appeared before the Supreme Court arguing for overturning the LHC decision against Sharif. Rehman said the LHC had no jurisdiction to hear the petition against Sharif and the election tribunal had the authority to decide it. Sharif has refused to seek justice from the judges, who had taken oath under the Nov 3, 2007 Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) issued by President Pervez Musharraf. They had not appeared or put their lawyers in the LHC despite called by the bench to defend the challenge to their qualification to fight the by-election. The judges had declined to accept as part the lawyers representing the civil society. __
