ISLAMABAD     -     Prime Minister Sheh­baz Sharif has reiterat­ed that the government would accept the deci­sion of the full bench of the Supreme Court in the case for elections in Punjab and Khyber Pa­khtunkhwa.

Speaking at the foun­dation stone laying cer­emony of the Islam­abad Lawyers Complex here yesterday, the PM said, however, those judges who had earli­er recused themselves should not be made part of the full bench.

He recalled that Jus­tice Munir was the cre­ator of the doctrine of necessity which took Pakistan down to a cer­tain direction.

He said, "We respect the Supreme Court and justices and their deci­sions should apply on everyone."

Talking about the Su­preme Court proceed­ings in the case for elec­tions, he mentioned that a nine-member bench was formed which was later shrunk to three members as some judges recused.

In the same case, po­litical parties were not made part of the pro­ceedings despite re­quests, he noted. The prime minister said if the demand for a full bench of the Supreme Court was accepted in the case for elections in Punjab ad Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa then everybody

would have accepted the deci­sion. He said the decision of Supreme Court judge Justice Qazi Faez Esa was invalidated through a circular in a case. Then a six- member larg­er bench was formed for the same case. Article 63A of the Constitution was rewritten and the appeal filed by the government in the Supreme Court was still not heard, he continued. He said no polit­ical party could evade elec­tions as it would bury its pol­itics. He said a court verdict was given that a prime min­ister was nothing without his federal cabinet but this principle was not applied on others. He said all the stake­holders should look at their conduct and decide wheth­er they wanted to protect the future of coming generations or they wanted to indulge in fights for their personal in­terests and take Pakistan in a direction from which no­body could come back. “We have to protect the future of Pakistan which is faced with many challenges. We should take decisions with a cool head and stay united for the interest of Pakistan,” he said. While expressing delight at the construction of Lawyers Complex, he said the project would be built at a cost of Rs 1.8 billion. Earlier, the proj­ect was only on papers and nothing was done on it, he told. He directed that sports complex comprising swim­ming pools should also be made part of the the lawyers complex. He said lawyers were a prominent section of society and they played an important role for the rule of law, restoration of judiciary and justice since the creation of Pakistan. Lawyers bore ba­ton charges and physical vio­lence as they held demon­strations and rallies for the restoration of the judiciary, he added. Earlier, Minister for Interior RanaSanaullah and Minister for Law and Jus­tice AzamNazeerTarar also spoke and highlighted mea­sures taken for the welfare of lawyers.

PM, MQM LEADERS DIS­CUSS ONGOING POPULA­TION CENSUS, POLITICAL SITUATION

Meanwhile, a delega­tion of the Muttahida Qau­mi Movement (MQM) called on Prime Minister Sheh­baz Sharif and discussed the ongoing population cen­sus and overall political sit­uation in the country. The delegation comprised Fed­eral Information Technolo­gy and Telecommunications Minister AminulHaq and former Member of Nation­al Assembly FarooqSattar. Federal Economic Affairs Minister SardarAyazSadiq also attended the meeting, a PM Office statement said.