Election date still not agreed upon as SC adjourns hearing

A petition seeking simultaneous general elections to all the national and provincial assemblies was adjourned Thursday by the Supreme Court (SC) without reaching a consensus, Aaj News reported.

The SC, earlier in the day, directed the federal coalition and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to sit together and develop a consensus on elections by 4pm today.

Earlier, a three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar, resumed hearing the Civil Miscellaneous Applications of the Defence Ministry, the Finance Division, and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), and the petition of Sardar Kashif Khan for holding of election across the country the same day.

The defence ministry’s plea requests that rather than hold Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elections earlier, polls for the National and all Provincial Assemblies be held together upon completion of their terms.

During the hearing, Farooq H. Naek, representing the PPP, informed the court that political parties had already started working together for the elections. He said Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto had met JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman on the matter.

He further said that they would meet with the PTI to end the ongoing tensions.

Immediately after the SC’s deadline for negotiations ended, Foreign Minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the ruling coalition will not negotiate with anyone with a gun to their head.

Talking to reports in Islamabad today, the foreign minister said the ruling coalition will implement the top court's 4-3 decision on the dismissal of suo motu case regarding elections in Punjab.

Bilawal went on to say that the ruling was in favour of holding elections in all provinces together, stressing that polls should be held in a free and fair manner.

PPP chairman said that pressure was being imposed on the ruling coalition to negotiate with the PTI chairman.

On Wednesday, the SC issued notices to political parties asking them to send their representatives on Thursday regarding the case.

Notices were also issued to the Federation, the ECP, and the Attorney General for Pakistan under Order 27A of the CPC.

At one point, the CJP said that the funds spent on the election were a “necessary” expenditure, adding that it is expected that the government will review its decision.

“The government should either decide or again refer the matter to the NA,” he said.

The tenure of the National Assembly and the legislature of two other provinces — Sindh and Balochistan — will end later this year and the federal government wants the polls to take place then, not in May, as directed by the top court.

Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan said Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad, adding that efforts were afoot to initiate political dialogue.

All ruling parties, apart from one, are willing to talk with the PTI, he said. He added that Bilawal would meet with the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in this regard today to convince him of negotiations.

CJP Bandial said that the AGP’s stance had some weight. He said that the court could “make some room” if all political parties were united in their stance.

“You think this is a matter of political justice in which the decision will be made by the people. You are suggesting that the political parties should negotiate. The government did not respond when the court asked for assurance. The government spoke positively for the first time today,” CJP Bandial observed and said the court was issuing a notice to political parties.

The court warned that there would be serious consequences if the government failed to release funds required for conducting polls in Punjab and KPK.