The constitutional courts have become need of the hour and in a serious effort to make it possible, it should be made part of party manifesto to curtail Supreme Court powers to interpret the constitution. This was stated by Farhatullah Babar - a senator of ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) - while speaking on a motion moved by him in Senate for debate over Supreme Court's lack of response in disclosing the names of its dual national judges despite repeated requests by the Senate.
The Senate had asked the top court of the country to inform it about the judges holding dual nationality, if there is any, after a petition filed by Dr Tahirul Qadri for reconstitution of Election Commission of Pakistan was rejected. Senator Babar, who is also spokesman of President Asif Ali Zardari, spoke against the powers of superior courts with the heart. "We will set up constitutional courts next time [and] it must be included in the manifestos of all political parties because it was agreed in charter of democracy signed by late Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif," he maintained.
He noted that the excessive suo motu actions, taken by the courts might jeopardise the independence of judiciary, hence there was a need to amend Article 184 of the Constitution to include right to appeal. "I wish to assert that the judges are not above the law [and] the parliament is not below the law. Let's join hands to reject the notion that some institutions [judiciary] are considering as they are above the law," he maintained.
He expressed the fear that if balance of power was not maintained, the independence of judiciary will be at stake. The prevalent approach of the apex court, he added, reflects it is not answerable to the parliament, which is a very dangerous sign. "The verses of Ghalib and Iqbal will not help boost the confidence of people in judiciary, and the only way to strengthen independent judiciary will be possible when the people will show their confidence over its verdicts....the dignity of the courts could not be maintained through suo motu notices," Babar declared.
Another critic of judiciary, Saeed Ghani, who also happens to be a PPP senator, said that all the decisions were being taken by the Supreme Court on its own where there was no room for the constitution. "I was a great critic of Qadri but today I'm with him because he was disgraced by the Supreme Court on the grounds that he is a dual national...if dual nationality is that dangerous, why the judges are reluctant to disclose their nationality," he questioned.
Forget about the judges, he continued, adding that even registrar Supreme Court had become so powerful that he took notes and put it to the chief justice, followed by suo motu by the chief justice on the press clipping or the comments of talk show hosts. Awami National Party (ANP) also joined the bandwagon to criticise the apex court including the Elections Commission of Pakistan. Senator Haji Muhmmad Adeel said that the idols carved by the parliament, have become its godfathers. They make fun of parliament through their suo motu, which was not accepted at all, he added. The house was adjourned to meet again on Thursday at 10:00am.