Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan has appeared before the Senate Committee on Rules of procedure ad Privileges Wednesday and has relied on the orders dated 4-3-2015, 6-3-2015 and 10-3-2015 of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. These orders are expressed in imperative terms and contain clear directions from the court to hold local government elections in Islamabad not under any law but under "the anticipated legislation".
It has not been denied by the Secretary, Election Commission of Pakistan that the "anticipated legislation" mentioned in the order of the Supreme Court was as yet the property of the Parliament in the form of a Bill. No law has, as yet, been approved by both Houses in accordance with Article 70 of the Constitution. As such it could not be described as law nor could it be acted upon.
The ruling of the Chairman Senate dated 6-7-2015 has already declared that the aforementioned orders of the Supreme Court could not have been acted upon as there was no law in the field to be applied or complied with. The question therefore is: how the Election Commission of Pakistan could have issued a schedule of local government elections or delimited the constituencies and issued other notifications purporting to be under "draft / Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government 'Act', 2015" when there was in-fact no such Act?
The issue that accordingly needs examination is: whether an order, even of the Honourable Supreme Court, can be a valid defence to a charge of breach of privilege of Parliament when the court itself has no sound basis for directing that elections be held under a law that, to its knowledge, does not exist?
Since this matter pertains not only to privilege and authority of Parliament but also to the scope of the actions of the ECP and of the orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, the Committee would like to seek assistance and guidance on the question and issue raised above. To this effect M/S. Attorney General of Pakistan, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, Aitzaz Ahsan, Farooq Hamid Naek, Farogh Naseem, Mrs Asma Jahangir, Kamran Murtaza Advocates, Vice Chairman Pakistan Bar Council, President Supreme Court Bar Association, may be requested, as special invitees to graciously assist and guide the Committee at its next meeting of the Committee on the question and issue above.-PR