LAHORE - Former Chief Justice of Pakistan Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui said the government has no option but to write the letter the Supreme Court has ordered it to send against the president.
Talking to a TV channel on Wednesday, he said the stage of the Supreme Court exercising any of the six options it had enlisted in its verdict was over. Since the court applied one option against a prime minister in one set of circumstances, it could not adopt a different yardstick for another head of the government failing to comply with the court order, Justice Siddiqui said. He pointed out that since the review petition filed by the government against the original NRO implementation case had already been dismissed, it was left with no course but to abide by the SC order.
“The only ‘middle course’ available to the government is to write the letter”.
Senior lawyer Muhammad Akram Sheikh said he was in complete agreement with Justice Siddiqui.
In his opinion fresh elections were the best option in the prevailing situation. In case the government adopted it, it would be adding to its own prestige, said Sheikh.
He said the seven-judge bench could not make the slightest change in the order passed by the 17-member bench.