A constitutional petition was filed in Sindh High Court by Sohail Hameed advocate on Friday in which he prayed court to restrain government from acting upon 17th amendment in constitution to what he called it without lawful authority and void.
Petitioner submitted that Article 51 of constitution unamended provides that National Assembly shall consist of 207 Muslims members to be elected by direct and free vote in accordance with law.
He stated, Supreme Court in its verdict held that no amendment shall be made in silent features of constitution viz., federation, parliamentary form of government, blended with Islamic provision and independence of judiciary. He said to omit word 'Muslim' from Article 51 of constitution amounts to amendments of federation and therefore it is null and void.
The court was prayed to declare 17th amendment to the extent of omission of word 'Muslim' in Article 51 and 62 (b) of constitution, which amounts to amendments in Islamic ideology of Pakistan void and in violation of Supreme Court verdicts in Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Zafar Ali Shah cases.