Govt trying to 'influence' SC decision

Opposition Leader in the Senate, Dr Shahzad Waseem, on Monday slammed the coalition government for trying to “influence the decision” of the Supreme Court that is set to seal the fate of Punjab Assembly elections.

He said the verdict will have a profound bearing on the country’s politics and alleged that the government was signalling its unwillingness to obey the apex court’s decision.

The Supreme Court will announce its verdict on the PTI’s petition challenging the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to postpone polls to the Punjab Assembly till Oct 8 on Tuesday (today).

A three-member bench — comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar — reserved the judgment on Monday after hearing all the parties, including the government, the PTI, the ECP and others. However, the counsels of the coalition parties were not heard.

The senator said that if the government failed to abide by the decision of the Supreme Court, it would be guilty of contempt of court. “The entire nation's civil society stands with the top court,” he maintained.

“Actions are being taken beyond the constitution and there have been attacks on the judiciary in the past as well. Now they are attacking the Supreme Court through the parliament,” the opposition leader in the upper house said, about the government-introduced (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, which aims to curtail the suo motu powers of the office of the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP).

The new draft law, which has been sent to the president for assent, has cut down the chief justice's powers to constitute panels, hear appeals or assign cases to judges in his team, according to a copy of the bill.

Lashing out at the government for inflation and economic woes, Waseem said there was a crisis of flour in the country, “earlier people used to eat bread, now bread is eating people”.

The government is afraid of the election, the rulers are afraid, whereas the people and Imran Khan are standing on one side, he added.

Earlier, Senate Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani referred three bills to relevant standing committees of the upper house.

One bill, the Toshakhana (Maintenance, Administration and Regulation) Bill, 2023, moved by Senator Mushtaq Ahmed, aims to provide for the maintenance, administration, and regulation of Toshakhana.

Another bill, The National Commission on the Rights of Child (Amendment) Bill, 2023, moved by Prof Dr Mehr Taj Roghani, seeks to amend the National Commission on the Rights of Child Act, 2017.

The third bill referred by the Chairman, The Export Processing Zones Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was moved by Senators Faisal Saleem Rehman, Bilawar Khan, Manzoor Ahmed, and Hidayatyllah.

The bill aims to introduce amendments to the Export Processing Zones Authority Ordinance, of 1980.