We should stand up to stop mockery of the Constitution, says PM

ISLAMABAD    -    In the wake of the Supreme Court's judgement in the elec­tions postponement case, Prime Minister Shehbaz Shar­if has said that a mockery of the country's Constitution and law is being made.

The premier's comments came a day after a three-mem­ber apex court bench head­ed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Jus­tice Munib Akhtar and Jus­tice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, declared the Election Commission of Paki­stan's order to delay the elec­tion in Punjab and Khyber Pa­khtunkhwa unconstitutional in a unanimous verdict.

“The fate of the nation is being decid­ed with strange decisions,” the prime minister remarked while addressing a meeting of the ruling coalition parties’ leadership here yesterday.

The PM chaired the meeting to come up with a solid stance of the govern­ment regarding decision of the Su­preme Court on elections in Punjab. He said they need to take solid deci­sions in view of the ongoing mockery of the Constitution and the law.

The prime minister said that mem­bers of the National Assembly had de­bated the issue in the ongoing ses­sion and a resolution had already been passed while tomorrow, anoth­er resolution would be tabled in the National Assembly. He thanked for­mer President Asif Ali Zardari, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and BNP Chief Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal for at­tending the meeting via video link. Shehbaz Sharif further said that the three-member bench of the apex court rejected our request for constituting a full court bench to hear this matter. 

He said the three-member bench also 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 said that such treat­ment with the Constitution and law had never been witnessed before and “such a terrible scene has never met [his] eyes”. The three-member bench had rejected the appeal for the consti­tution of a full bench and similarly, po­litical parties’ pleas were also rejected, he added. A day earlier, too, the pre­mier had termed the apex court’s de­cision as a “murder of justice” deem­ing it highly regrettable. The federal cabinet also rejected the judgement calling it a “minority verdict”.

Highlighting salient points of the yesterday’s decision of the three-member bench, the Prime Minister said the court orders have bound the government to provide the required funding to the Election Commission of Pakistan 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 17th of this month in this respect. Shehbaz Sharif further said that the three-mem­ber bench, while on the other hand, asked to approach the relevant forum for elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said this issue was discussed in de­tail by the cabinet yesterday and now we all are here to further deliberate on this matter. The prime minister elabo­rated that the coalition partners held a detailed meeting last week, followed by two cabinet meetings and parliamenta­ry meetings over the evolving situation