Ahsan Iqbal questions CJP if 'judiciary is a political party'

Comment comes after CJP takes political jibe at Shehbaz Sharif

LAHORE: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday questioned the ‘politicisation of judiciary’ in a tweet, referring to the remarks of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar on the Punjab government’s performance.

The comment appear on the micro-blogging website as a three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the CJP, heard the case of secretion of polluted water in rivers.

“The government has been working for 10 years… what has been done in this regard?” said the CJP, adding, “Lives are at stake in this matter. They [provincial government] run advertisements of works done, they should also run advertisements of what hasn’t been done yet. The situation is appalling as datasheets too contain CM Shehbaz Sharif’s pictures”.

Hon CJ! It is for the people of Punjab to judge performance in the coming elections. How can you make such statements just before general election? Is judiciary a political party? IK or AZ can make such statements. Politicization of judiciary will be our collective loss. https://t.co/dok8DAW4Rc

— Ahsan Iqbal (@betterpakistan) March 10, 2018

The CJP said that billions of rupees was being spent on the Orange Line Train (OLT) project “which is important as well”, but Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the Water and Sanitation Authority should also be accountable for the negligence of the health sector.

“For advertising, political parties should utilise party funds rather than the taxpayers’ money,” the CJP remarked. “Shehbaz Sharif instead of showcasing work through advertisements should concentrate on doing concrete work,” he said.

Justice Nisar warned that the court can order the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for investigation of advertisements released by the Punjab government.

In response to the CJP’s remarks, Interior Minister Iqbal said the performance of the Punjab government was for the people of Punjab to judge in the coming elections.

He said the CJP’s statements might affect the position of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the upcoming general elections. He said the ‘politicisation of judiciary’ would be a collective loss and such statements were expected of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief and the Pakistan Peoples Party Co-chairperson.

On the contrary, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said, “We are under the impression that the judiciary believes in the institution of democracy and free and fair election… we do not think that his remarks allude to any politicisation in judiciary.”

He asked the CJP to clarify his remarks so that they might not be used by political opponents, adding that they remarks lent credence to Imran Khan’s propaganda against the Punjab government.

With regard to the advertisement campaign, the law minister said the cost of advertisement was part of the project cost. He added it was a standard practice to display the pictures of the leader under which the project was completed.

Sanaullah said, “The Chief Justice is not a politician and hence does not know how it works.”

He said there was nothing illegal about the statements, but added that if the CJP did not clarify his remarks, “we will file a review petition”. He said it was for the people to decide the performance of the government, and not the courts.