Federal Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar said on Monday the ruling coalition would not accept the Supreme Court’s (SC) hasty verdict on the sensitive case [of delay in Punjab and KP elections].
The SC is set to pronounce the verdict it reserved on the delay in Punjab and KP elections' case on Tuesday.
Addressing the National Assembly (NA) session, he said the ruling coalition and the SC held a long consultation over the matter adding that the government had been requesting the court to make it a respondent in the case for six days and demanded transparency in the proceedings. “When politicians appeared before SC today (on Monday), they were met with anger and SC’s order was suspended through an executive order”, he claimed.
He went on to say that voices were being raised from within the judiciary adding that they were not being paid heed to. “Attorney General (AG) Mansoor Usman requested the apex court to constitute a bench comprising justices who were not earlier part of the case”, he added.
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After that we came across the news that verdict had been reserved and would be pronounced on Tuesday, he said.
The minister continued by saying that SC judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa had ordered to halt proceedings on suo motu notices until rules were formed adding that a bench should have been constituted which was not controversial. “The three-member bench, comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Banidal, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Muneeb Akhtar, is still hearing the case despite [the government’s] request to form a full court”, he added. The CJP should, he said, set his house in order first.
Mr Tarar said that the constitution which bounded to hold elections within 90 days of the dissolution of assemblies also asked to hold elections at one time. “You are pushing [the country] towards another controversial election”, he added.
He implored whether the constitution was not violated when President Dr Arif Alvi had refused to take oath from PM Shehbaz Sharif and did not assent to the governor’s summary. “Have a good look at yourself as you berated the constitution and good practice”, he added.
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