PM urges SC to review decision, form full court

Says will accept verdict of full bench, excluding those judges who recused themselves

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to review its decision on the Punjab polls, saying that the federal government would only accept that of a full court excluding those judges who recused themselves from the bench.

The prime minister said that the ruling coalition would accept any decision given by the full court, minus the judges who had recused themselves, in the Punjab polls’ case as no political party could run away from the elections.

The premier along with Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and representatives of the Pakistan Bar Council, Islamabad Bar Council as well as other lawyers’ organisations was speaking at the ceremony held for laying the foundation stone of the lawyers’ complex in Islamabad costing Rs1.8 billion.

At one point, the PM quipped that he did not want to disclose the total cost of the lawyers’ complex as the top court might ask him to give the money to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for holding polls in Punjab.

Earlier, the ECP had delayed the polls citing lack of funds and security but the Supreme Court said that the funds could be generated from different heads, ordering the government to provide funds to the ECP by April 10.

Meanwhile, PM Shehbaz also issued directives for inclusion a sports complex within the lawyers’ complex, saying a separate swimming pool for the male and female lawyers was a must.

Shehbaz was referring to the decision of a three-member SC bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar. The bench announced the verdict on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) petition challenging the electoral body’s move of postponing the Punjab Assembly polls till October 8, ruling that the elections should be held on May 14.

The CJP announced that the Punjab Assembly elections would be held on May 14 as it declared the ECP’s decision “unconstitutional”.

The government side, however, had been terming the order contrary to the judgments of SC’s majority judges, saying: “It is an ‘impractical order’.”

The PM’s request for the formation a full court came on the heels of the National Assembly’s resolution wherein the top court’s decision was not only rejected but the PM and the federal cabinet were barred from implementing it.

In his address to the lawyers, Shehbaz said, “Respecting the judiciary is mandatory for all but the law should also be equal for all. It is time to keep personal interests aside in order to secure the future of Pakistan as well as the future generations.”

The PM said that 63-A of the Constitution was rewritten by the Supreme Court when it ruled that the votes of defected lawmakers would not be counted but a review petition against the decision had not yet been taken up even after almost a year.

The decision had led to changing the government in Punjab – from the PML-N to the PTI – as Hamza Shehbaz, who was elected in April 2022 as the Punjab chief minister with the help of 24 votes of the dissident PTI MPAs, was superseded by PTI candidate Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

The SC decision on the presidential reference seeking interpretation of Article 63-A had turned the tables on PML-N and paved the way for Elahi to become the Punjab CM. Subsequently, Elahi dissolved the Punjab Assembly to force snap polls on the federal government but it didn’t happen and, ultimately, the matter ended up before the apex court, which ordered polls in Punjab on May 14.