The Supreme Court on Friday issued a contempt notice to Defence Secretary Lieutenant General Asif Yasin Malik (Retd), to explain why action should not be taken against him for non-compliance of court's orders to hold local bodies (LB) polls in cantonment areas.
Resuming the hearing on the LB polls issue, a three-member bench led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry also issued notice to Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Munir A Malik to act as prosecutor in the contempt matter for October 25, saying: "Sorry Mr AGP we have no option but to issue contempt notice to the Secretary Defence in the matter".
The bench sought a response from all provincial Advocates General and Islamabad Capital Territory Administration through Additional Attorney General Shah Khawar on the restoration of LB system throughout the country. The court also issued notice to the Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan to explain on October 14 why election process had not commenced so far and whether any request had been received from any provincial government.
During the course of hearing, the bench asked the Secretary Defence to state reasons behind his inability to hold LB polls in cantonment areas; to which Asif Yasin Malik said he was bound to get permission from the concerned forum, saying he had sent a letter to Prime Minister for approval. The Chief Justice Chaudhry said continuation of the LB government since 2010 was a constitutional duty under Article 140 (A). A short order said, "Prima facie we are of the opinion that neither the Federal Government nor the provincial governments are willing to hold the elections of the Local Bodies - It is our considered opinion that after having dissolved the LB on 09.01.2010 (Balochistan), 30.01.2010 (KPK), 23.02.2010 (Punjab) and 24.02.2010 (Sindh), all the provincial governments had no option but to enforce the constitutional provision".
He further remarked that it was a matter of grave concern that the people who had taken oath on constitution were not sticking to it, adding that under Article 5 of the Constitution there was no room to avoid its provisions. Directing all the provincial Advocates General and ICT administration to submit response on the restoration of LB system of 2010, the bench said that the next hearing would be held at Lahore registry on October 14.
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