Karachi law, order case: Supreme Court disappointed over lack of Implementation

The Supreme Court on Saturday issued an interim order on the Karachi unrest, expressing disappointment over the lack of implementation on its decisions to improve the law and order situation in the Sindh metropolis. In its 27-page verdict, the court said that the recurrent meetings of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) could not yield results in line with its orders.
It said that the authorities concerned had not moved to implement the court's decision even a year after its ruling on the case. According to the decision, the court's observations were its orders. It said that Article 15 of the Constitution covered the establishment of constituencies and not their delimitation.
It said the 1974 Act did not ban the establishment of new constituencies or restrict the Election Commission's powers in this regard. It said whenever the Election Commission wanted it could change constituencies without the need for a fresh census. The court said the Election Commission's application was not according to the law, adding that it seemed that the commission was unwilling to follow the Supreme Court's decision.
According to the Constitution, it was the responsibility of the Election Commission to hold free, fair and impartial polls across the country, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain said in an additional note in the order. He said that the Watan Party case had called for delineating constituencies, adding that it did not call for increasing the number of constituencies in the Karachi Division. He said the Election Commission agreed that there was a need for the formation of constituencies without a census. The orders said that the court had not been informed about why new constituencies could not be formed ahead of the elections.