Govt in breach of Constitution: Alvi

ISLAMABAD:

President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif emphasising that he should direct all the executive authorities concerned with federal and provincial governments to assist the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in holding the elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa within the constitutional timeframe.

Through the letter, the president conveyed to the premier that holding elections in the two provinces was necessary to comply with an order of the Supreme Court issued on March 1, saying the order should be abided by to avoid further complications, including contempt of court proceedings.

Without mincing any words, Dr Alvi underlined that in his opinion “flagrant violation of the Constitution had been committed by the executive authorities and government departments”.

He added that the ECP had not implemented the announcement of holding elections in Punjab on April 30, 2023, and also “blatantly violated the Supreme Court’s order dated March 1, 2023”.

Also, President Alvi alleged, “It appeared that federal and caretaker governments in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa advised the heads of departments concerned to indicate their inability to provide the necessary support for holding general elections.”

He referred to Article 220 of the Constitution which stated: “It shall be the duty of all executive authorities in the federation and in the provinces to assist the commissioner and the Election Commission in the discharge of his or their functions.”

The president’s letter came after the ECP on March 22 announced delay in the election in Punjab until Oct 8 on the grounds that it could not conduct transparent and peaceful polls on the scheduled date of April 30.

In an eight-page order, the ECP said that it could not hold the election “honestly, justly, and fairly in a peaceful manner due to security threats [and] in the absence of funds” and being unable to provide “level-playing field” to all political parties.

The ECP said that the elections could not be held in Punjab under the circumstances conveyed to it by the law enforcement agencies, finance, defence and interior ministries, Punjab chief secretary and others, who all opposed the polls on various grounds.

Meanwhile, President Alvi accused PM Shehbaz of holding “no meaningful consultation with the President on policy issues”, saying it was the responsibility of the prime minister to furnish information relating to the administration of affairs of the federation and proposals for legislation.

In the letter, President Alvi stated, “It was a matter of concern that no meaningful consultation with the President on policy issues had been undertaken by the Prime Minister in line with Article 46 of the Constitution.”

Alvi reminded Shehbaz that the article says that the prime minister shall keep the president informed on all matters of internal and foreign policy and on all legislative proposals the federal government intends to bring before parliament.

He added that Rule 15(5) of Rules of Business, 1973, also highlighted the responsibility of the prime minister, inter-alia, to furnish such information relating to the administration of affairs of the federation and proposals for legislation as the president may call for.

The president stated in the letter that elections of provincial assemblies, in case of their dissolution under Article 105 or Article 112, were required to be held within 90 days under Article 224 (2) of the Constitution.

He added that the Supreme Court had directed the ECP to propose date(s) to the president for holding the poll within 90 days or on a date that deviated to the barest minimum from the aforesaid deadline.

He said that the K-P governor was also directed by the Supreme Court to appoint a date for holding the general election for the provincial assembly of K-P as per above timeframe.

Subsequently, the ECP had proposed holding of general elections between April 30 and May 7, 2023, and general elections for the Punjab Assembly on April 30, 2023, and the same was notified by the ECP.

Human right violations

Additionally, the president drew the PM’s attention towards the human rights violation, saying events had taken place in the recent past that were highlighted by the print, electronic, and social media about glaring violations of fundamental and human rights that needed to be brought to the PM’s notice to ensure remedial measures and preventive action.

In his letter, the president also drew the attention of the premier towards “the seriousness of incidents of human rights violations, atrocities of police and law enforcement agencies, and grossly disproportionate use of force against the citizens of Pakistan”.

He said that multiple fake and frivolous cases had been registered against politicians, workers, journalists and media persons; houses of political workers had been raided, and citizens had been abducted without warrants and lawful justification.

The president termed the incidents of human rights violations and oppression by state machinery against innocent citizens as “clear breach and violations of fundamental rights” guaranteed by Article 4 of the Constitution, which provided for, and guaranteed citizens to enjoy the protection of law and to be treated in accordance with the law.

He also referred to Article 9 on ‘security of person’, Article 10 on ‘safeguards as to arrest and detention’, Article 10-A on ‘right to fair trial’, Article 14 on ‘inviolability of dignity of man etc’, Article 15 on ‘freedom of movement etc’, Article 16 on ‘freedom of assembly’, Article 17 on ‘freedom of association’ and Article 19 on ‘freedom of speech’, saying that the spirit and mandate of these articles were being clearly transgressed.

“This has tarnished the image of Pakistan in the international community and is casting negative repercussions on the future of democracy and state of human rights in Pakistan,” he said, highlighting that Pakistan’s ranking dropped 12 points downwards in the World Press Freedom Index, 2022.

Pakistan ranked 145 out of 180 countries, he said, which reflected the sorry state of affairs and this year’s actions and images would further exacerbate Pakistan’s already dismal ranking.

ECP apprises president

The Election Commission wrote a letter to President Alvi, in which he has taken into confidence over the postponement of the Punjab Assembly elections.

According to sources, the ECP informed the president about the reasons for postponing the elections in Punjab. In this regard, the president was taken into confidence through a letter.