ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s coalition administration on Saturday expressed its mistrust of a three-member Supreme Court bench currently hearing a case related to the postponement of the Punjab polls, asking it to terminate the proceedings and recognize the constitutional authority of the election body to finalize the schedule for the electoral contest.
The country’s top court recently took up a petition filed by former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party challenging the election commission’s decision to postpone the Punjab polls from April 30 to October 8.
Khan’s party dissolved the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces in January this year, hoping to build pressure on the government to call early national elections which are scheduled for October this year.
The country’s constitution requires the government to hold elections within 90 days of the dissolution of an assembly. After much political wrangling, the election commission decided to arrange the Punjab and KP polls on April 30 and May 28, respectively, though it later revisited its decision, citing security, administrative and financial reasons, while announcing to delay them until October 8.
“Elections should be held on the same day across the country,” the coalition government said in a statement after its top leaders held an online meeting to discuss the current political situation of the country in the context of the ongoing Supreme Court proceedings. “It is a fundamental constitutional requirement to conduct impartial, transparent and free elections, a deviation from which will plunge the country into a catastrophic political crisis.”
“The meeting expressed its distrust of the three-member bench headed by Chief Justice [Umar Ata Bandial], which also comprise Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan and Justice Muneeb Akhtar, and demanded that the current judicial proceedings must be terminated,” it added.
The statement said that several senior judges had expressed their reservations over the current Supreme Court hearing, adding that a majority of them was against it.
“The sad fact is that the chief justice of the Supreme Court wants to impose the decision of the minority on the decision of the majority,” the statement maintained.
“Under Article 218 (3) of the constitution, among other constitutional provisions, the election commission has the power to conduct the elections and the Supreme Court should not interfere with the power of an independent election commission under the constitution,” it continued.
The statement added that the division within the Supreme Court was evident and its judges should refrain from issuing controversial political decisions.
It maintained the impression that the chief justice and some of his colleagues were offering preferential treatment to Khan’s PTI party should be eradicated by the judiciary.
Reacting to the development, PTI’s senior vice president of Chaudhry Fawad Hussain dismissed the coalition government’s statement.
“During the last eleven months, this government has shaken the foundations of economy and governance,” he said. “Article 224 of the Constitution clearly requires elections within 90 days after the dissolution of assemblies.”
Hussain reiterated the best way to address the ongoing political and economic turmoil in the country was to hold free and fair elections.
