Supreme Court seeks evidence of public debate on system change

Justice Bandial hears appeals against Registrar Office’s objections to pleas for presidential system

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court has sought documentary evidences to establish petitioners claim that the public debate which is going on against the incumbent parliamentary system of government and that the people want the presidential system in the country.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial, while hearing appeals against the Registrar Office’s objections on three constitutional petitions has passed the order that says that question of law and public importance is raised in these petitions.

“This assertion is based on the public debate claimed to be taking place about the system of governance envisaged by the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973 (constitution) ie the parliamentary system of the government,” said the order passed by Justice Bandial. “There is no evidence of any such debate attached to the petitions”, the order added.

The judge noted that the petitioners seek action under Article 48 (6) of Constitution, which says, “If at any time the Prime Minister considers it necessary to hold a referendum on any matter of national importance, he may refer the matter to a joint sitting of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) and if it is approved in a joint sitting, the Prime Minister may cause such matter to be referred to a referendum in the form of a question that is capable of being answered by either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’”.

The order further noted that there was no material showing that the petitioners had previously approached the concerned public authority and institution provided under the Article 48 (6) of the Constitution for relief sought in the petitions.

The court observed that evidence in this respect needed to be placed on record as well. “Once these requisites are furnished, the question whether the appellants, Constitution and the law, is a matter for judicial determination and not for objection by the office”, the order said.

The three petitions are moved for establishing presidential form of system. The first petition is filed by Tahir Aziz Khan, chairman of the Hum Awam Pakistan – a little-known political party – under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution. The petitioner requested the apex court to issue directions to the prime minister to hold referendum for setting up the presidential form of government.

The second petition is filed by a citizen of Islamabad, Dr Sadiq Ali and The third petition is filed by renowned lawyer Sahibzada Ahmed Raza Khan Kasuri. He had also sought a referendum for establishing the presidential form of government.

In September, the Registrar Office raised objection that the petitioners had not pointed out the question of public importance. It said: “The petitioner[s] did not approach any other forum available... under the law for the same relief. The petitioner[s] did not justify invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction of this court under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution.”

Chaudhry Zaheer, the president of the Hum Awam Pakistan Youth, who recently organised rallies in favour of the army, said they had sought direction from the apex court to the prime minister to hold a referendum, as provided under Clause 6 of the Article 48 of the Constitution. “Such a referendum is necessary to determine whether the people of Pakistan – for their welfare and wellbeing – want a presidential form of government or not,” he said.

One of the petitions stated that it was apparent from the print, electronic and social media that an overwhelming majority of the people were fed up with the parliamentary form of government and wanted the presidential form of government.

It said that currently, Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world with an estimated population of 212 million people. According to the United Nations’ observations, this population is estimated to reach 403 million by 2050.

“Pakistan has also one of the world’s largest youth populations, as 64 per cent of the Pakistanis are now under the age of 30. Pakistan is ranked as 122nd out of 190 countries in the world in the opinion of the World Health Organisation’s performance report in terms of quality and accessibility of health care,” it added.

The petition said this growing population would put catastrophic pressures on resources, leaving tens of millions of people jobless. This trend will further almost inevitably lead to further destabilisation of Pakistan’s already fragile political system.

As of March 2020, the petition stated, the public debt of Pakistan was estimated at about Rs42.8 trillion or $256 billion, which is 98.2 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), while the external debt stood at around $112 billion. Pakistan owes $5.765 billion to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the petition continued.

“No doubt, 25 per cent of Pakistan’s population lives below the poverty line. At present, the average human development index (HDI) and the GDP are the lowest as compared to other South Asian countries like India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan,” the petition added.

“In the presidential system, the head of government is elected and is not responsible to the legislature, which cannot in normal circumstances dismiss him. Such dismissal is possible, however, in uncommon cases, often through impeachment,” it said.