KARACHI:
For almost a month we have been hearing that elections must be held within 90 days of the dissolution of a provincial assembly by the Chief Minister of that province as per the Constitution. However, what is confusing is that two provincial assemblies were dissolved, almost simultaneously, within a gap of just three days. The Punjab Provincial Assembly was dissolved on 14 January, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly was dissolved on 17 January.
On 11th February, the Lahore High Court adjudged that elections must be held within 90 days as per the Constitution. In my humble opinion, the matter stood settled, unless there was an intra-court appeal which decided otherwise, or the judiciary revisited judgment based on 63A. On 22nd February, the Supreme Court of Pakistan took suo motu notice of the settled issue. What puzzles me is why the suo motu was only taken for the Punjab Assembly and not for K-P assembly.
The SC should restrain itself from intruding into the jurisdiction of the Executive or the Parliament and regulate using suo motu powers. Political affairs should be resolved based on the Constitution to avoid larger conflicts and irregularities.
Malik Tariq
Lahore
Published in The Express Tribune, April 25th, 2023.
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