ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday termed the Supreme Court’s three-member bench’s decision with regard to delay in holding of elections in Punjab “a mockery of the Constitution and law” and urged the coalition partners to take “solid” decisions.
The prime minister, in his televised address to a meeting of the ruling coalition partners, said that the three-member bench of the apex court rejected the federal government’s request for constituting a full-court bench to hear the matter.
The meeting discussed the apex court’s decision in detail and declared the verdict as “murder of justice” by rejecting the request of setting up a full court.
According to the sources, the meeting decided that the federal cabinet’s rejection of the SC’s “minority” bench “controversial” verdict should be endorsed from the Parliament.
Sources said that PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz suggested filing references against all the three judges.
“We need to take solid decisions in view of the ongoing mockery of the Constitution and the law, and the fate of the nation is being decided with strange decisions,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in his address to the meeting. “Such kind of treatment with the Constitution and law has never been witnessed before and such a terrible scene has never been seen,” he added.
He thanked former president Asif Ali Zardari, former Prime Minister and PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif, and BNP Chief Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal for attending the meeting via video link, and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and others in-person. The prime minister said that the three-member bench ignored the majority decision of 4-3, as well as, it did not say anything about the judges, who had recused themselves from this case.
Besides, political parties’ plea to become party in this matter was not given any weightage, he added. Highlighting salient points of the decision of the three-member bench, the prime minister said the court’s orders have bound the government to provide the required funding to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by 10th of this month and the ECP will have to furnish a report to the apex court in this regard by 11th of this month.
He said the federal government has been asked to provide security cover of military and Rangers for elections and the ECP will submit a report by April 17 in this respect.
He said that the three-member bench, while on the other hand, asked to approach the relevant forum for elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. He elaborated that last week they held a detailed meeting, followed by two cabinet meetings and parliamentary meetings over the evolving situation.
“How a decision of another bench was neglected while members of the three-judge bench who had earlier recused themselves and again joined the bench,” he questioned. He added that a circular was issued over Justice Isa’s directive, followed by the formation of a six-member bench that took up the issue and decided it.
He said that the members of the National Assembly have debated the issue in the ongoing session and a resolution has already been passed while another resolution would be tabled in the House today (Thursday).
The meeting was given a detailed briefing by the legal team that appraised the participants that the verdict could not be implemented. The sources maintained that the participants were of the view that all the political forces must get together for the supremacy of the parliament.
They said that the meeting also reposed confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and declared that to stand united for the supremacy of the Constitution and the parliament.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023