Muzaffarabad, July 2, 2026: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court on Thursday deferred hearing on an Election Commission application seeking ex parte ad interim relief against a high court order directing the provisional registration of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) as a political party.
A full court comprising Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram, Justice Raza Ali Khan and Justice Khalid Yousaf Chaudhary ruled that the application would be heard together with the Election Commission’s petition for leave to appeal (PLA) after the latter completes scrutiny in the court registry.
The case stems from an AJK High Court order issued on June 23 directing the Election Commission to provisionally register PTI as a political party, effectively suspending the commission’s May 16 decision rejecting the party’s registration application.
Challenging the high court order, the Election Commission moved the apex court through a petition for leave to appeal, along with an application under Rules 1 and 2 of Order VI of the Supreme Court Rules, 1978, seeking ex parte ad interim relief pending the appeal.
At the previous hearing, PTI counsel Yasir Safeer Mughal had sought an adjournment, saying he was not adequately prepared to argue the matter. Following the request, Chief Justice Akram ordered that the operation of the high court’s June 23 order — to the extent of the interim relief granted to PTI — would remain in abeyance until July 2.
When the matter came up again on Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered that the commission’s application would be heard along with the main petition for leave to appeal. However, no date was fixed for the hearing.
With the AJK Supreme Court set to begin its summer recess on Monday, which will continue until October 7, the case is now unlikely to be taken up before the July 27 general elections in the territory.
The development effectively leaves the legal status of PTI’s provisional registration unresolved during the election process.
