CJ terms ruling on no-trust ‘unprecedented’

Justice Mandokhail observes that political parties should strengthen themselves to end floor-crossing

ISLAMABAD:

Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial has termed the National Assembly speaker’s ruling, which rejected the opposition’s no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday, “unprecedented”.

Heading a five-judge larger bench to hear a suo motu case regarding the ruling, the chief justice remarked that if the ruling was permitted then the Sindh High Court Bar Association counsel’s statement would be relevant that Hitler’s dictatorship was started from speaker’s ruling.

Chief Justice Bandial also said that opposition was considering victory on the no-confidence motion but asked whether the opposition was scared of going into fresh elections. He also posed the question whether National Assembly deputy speaker, who read the ruling, subverted the Constitution.

Since Sunday, the bench was hearing the matter on a daily basis. During the hearing on Wednesday, the bench asked about the material on the basis of which the deputy speaker gave the ruling under the Article 5 of the Constitution.

Read SC bars institutions from ‘extra-constitutional’ steps

Lawyers for the opposition parties are expressing concern over the delay in final decision because the country is standstill since Sunday. They say that the apex court invoked suo motu jurisdiction under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution, therefore, these are inquisitorial and not adversarial proceedings.

Likewise, with the passage of time, presence of parliamentarians in the courtroom was getting lesser and lesser as it seems that their hopes are being dampened due to prolonged judicial process in deciding this matter.

Senior lawyers believe that if the court delays its decision on this crucial constitutional matter then political leaders will be constrained to approach the powerful circles for relief, which will weaken democracy in the country.

Lawyers say that though the Supreme Court should strictly follow the principle of trichtomy of powers but the ultimate objective of the judiciary is to protect fundamental rights of citizens and preserve democracy in the country.

On the other hand, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) legal team has a different strategy. Firstly, they want to delay the proceedings because every passing day is favouring them in political field. Secondly they are also requesting to form a high-powered commission for probe into the foreign conspiracy against the Imran Khan-led government. However, the bench seems not interested in the investigation.

Read more No credible evidence of ‘foreign plot’ against Imran govt, says official

Lawyers, who are closely witnessing the court proceedings in this case, say that the bench is keeping its cards close to chest. Judges are avoiding observations which could give away clue to their positions. However, they further say that most of the observations reflect that they may not endorse the ruling.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail said that being judges, they had taken the oath to preserve and protect the Constitution of Pakistan. He added that their decision would be binding for everyone.

Justice Mandokhail also asked whether Prime Minister Imran did not favour the foreign country by dissolving the National Assembly. He said whether the president asked the prime minister about the reasons of his advice for dissolving the National Assembly.

Justice Mandokhail observed that political parties should strengthen themselves to end floor crossing. The chief justice said that they did not want to interfere in policy matters.

PTI counsel Babar Awan stated that when dozens of party lawmakers defected then what remedy was left. The chief justice stated that the remedy was available in Article 63A of Constitution, which said that if a lawmaker defected then he would be de-seated.

Also sitting on the bench, Justice Munib Akhtar said that under the rules of business, the National Assembly speaker had no bar on presiding the session, even if a no-confidence motion was pending against him.

Regarding a political crisis in the Punjab, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) lawyer Senator Azam Tarar requested the bench to intervene into the matter as the province of 140 million people was being run without chief minister.

Tarar said that the opposition had the majority but the Punjab Assembly secretary was not allowing the deputy speaker to hold the session. Chief Justice Bandial siad that if the system was not cooperating then the session could be held anywhere. He observed that petition related to Punjab issue would be taken up on Thursday (today).