Our sword is always hanging on everyone’s head … it depends how it will fall on anyone, says Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. PHOTO: FILE
The local bodies’ election case took a nasty turn on Friday. Incensed by consistent violations of its directions, the Supreme Court not only rejected an apology from the defence secretary but also set a short deadline for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold LB elections at least in three provinces.
A three-judge bench – headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry – decided to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Defence Secretary Lt-Gen (retd) Asif Yasin Malik for failing to honour his commitment to hold LB polls in the garrison areas of the country. The bench will formally indict Lt-Gen Malik on November 4.
The top court had issued a contempt notice to the defence secretary on October 11. In his reply, submitted to the court on Monday, Lt-Gen Malik ‘humbly’ requested the court to withdraw the notice.
“With repentance, [I] request this honourable court to graciously accept my apologies and regrets, and the notice of contempt may kindly be withdrawn for which I will be extremely obliged and I place myself at the benevolence and mercy of this honourable court,” he wrote.
On Friday, however, Justice Chaudhry observed that the apology was not what the court expected to hear from the defence secretary. “The time for hearing an explanation has passed, we are now at the stage to discuss the modalities of contempt proceedings,” he said.
After his client’s apology was rejected, the counsel for the defence secretary, Advocate Iftikhar Gilani, blamed the government for the mess. “It was the prime minister who did not give the order for the [local bodies] elections, despite the fact that my client wrote to him twice on the matter,” he said.
“Should we hold the prime minister responsible for contempt then,” Justice Chaudhry asked.
Advocate Iftikhar Gilani replied: “The defence minister is actually the relevant authority for conducting LB polls in the cantonment areas.”
The bench asked Attorney General Munir A Malik to collect evidence against Lt-Gen Malik. At this, Munir informed the court that the defence secretary has already confessed to committing contempt of court. He added that this was enough for his conviction.
Subsequently, at one stage in the proceedings, the chief justice noted that since there was a confession in the case, there was no need to formally frame charges.
In the same case, the same bench directed the ECP to hold LB elections in Sindh on November 27 and in Punjab and Balochistan on December 7.
The dates had been proposed by the governments of the three provinces themselves in their requests to the ECP. The election body, however, had been hesitant about conducting polls on the dates requested, citing various reasons.
During the proceedings, ECP’s counsel submitted a concise statement mentioning the difficulties that were preventing the commission from holding the LB polls on the proposed dates.
However, the bench rejected his arguments, pointing out that under Article 140A(2) of the Constitution, the ECP was duty-bound to hold the LB polls. “Therefore, this court is not in a position to allow any relaxation to the ECP for the non-fulfillment of its constitutional obligation. As such the ECP is directed to follow the request made by the provincial governments contained in the letters,” read the court’s ruling.
The bench also questioned the attorney general over the reluctance of the K-P government and Islamabad Capital Territory authorities to hold LB elections. Munir A Malik replied that he would apprise the court about the matter on the next date of hearing.
Justice Chaudhry warned the K-P and ICT authorities saying “the law will take its own course” if they failed to comply with the court’s directions pertaining to LB elections.
“Our sword is always hanging on everyone’s head … it depends how it falls on anyone,” he said. The K-P’s advocate general subsequently informed the bench that the provincial assembly was in session to discuss the matter and would likely pass the law and announce a date for the polls this week.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2013.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ