The federal cabinet is likely to meet on Wednesday (tomorrow) to discuss political situation and possibilities of imposing emergency in the country, well-placed sources told Business Recorder here on Monday.
The Law Ministry and the Cabinet Division's Military Wing are ready since Saturday to issue any 'order' after receiving directives from the top but no decision has yet been finalised, the sources added. On Sunday, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that the government would take decision of imposing emergency after assessing the gravity of the situation.
"We had been asked on Saturday to remain at the offices to issue 'special orders' which will be coming from the Law Ministry. We waited till 10pm but nothing came. For Sunday we were asked to be available on phone and on Monday the situation remained the same," said an official on condition of anonymity. The sources said that Azam Warraich, draftsman, Law Ministry and Joint Secretary Cabinet Division, Military Wing were main tools used for carving the order.
On Sunday, Premier Aziz did not rule out the possibility of imposing emergency, clarifying that there are provisions in the constitution to impose emergency in certain circumstances explained in the constitution. Asked which items are parts of the cabinet meeting agenda, the sources said that no formal agenda has yet been finalised by the Prime Minister secretariat but discussion on the possibility of emergency imposition would be part of the issues of public importance.
The Prime Minister's statement regarding emergency remained talk of the town the whole day. The people from all over the country inquired about the latest development especially after the Supreme Court of Pakistan suspended the Supreme Judicial Council looking into the reference of misconduct charges against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
"We received several phone calls from different people, asking if emergency has been imposed," said another official. This correspondent made a telephone call to Secretary Law Justice retired Mansoor Ahmed to know about the latest situation but he left the office a minute before the call. However, when his PA was asked if there was ' any such thing' he negated.
Comments
Comments are closed.