ISLAMABAD: Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar, the federal minister of law and justice, claimed on Thursday that the parliament had approved the bill in reference to the Supreme Court’s suo motu notice under Article 184(3) and demanded that elections be held simultaneously across the entire nation.
Speaking to international media, the law minister argued that despite pleading with the court to hear their case regarding the Punjab elections, political parties such as the Pakistan People’s Party, Muslim League (N), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) were neither heard nor made parties in the case. He said that the constitution stated that the ECP was burdened with the responsibility of conducting elections and that the mechanism for holding elections according to the constitution existed and implying that the court orders were contrary to it.
According to the constitution, he claimed, the ECP is responsible for holding elections, and the election-holding process is as follows:
He said that the security situation in the country was alarming and the security forces were engaged in operations against terrorism.
He said that political parties and bar councils requested the court to form a full court, which was not approved. If elections were held in Punjab, the National Assembly elections would be affected, he added.
Senator Azam Tarar said that many questions were being raised in the country after the decision of the Supreme Court. With reference to the dissolution of assemblies and general elections, the constitution stated that elections should be held within ninety days after dissolution, but there were many schemes in the constitution and many other provisions of the law, he added.
He said that in 2010, amendments were made in Articles 224 and 224(A) of the Constitution due to several experiments of elections.
He said that Article 217 stated that elections in the country would be held simultaneously under the supervision of the Election Commission of Pakistan while Article 218(3) of the Constitution stated that the Election Commission of Pakistan was responsible for conducting transparent and impartial elections in the country.
Azam Nazeer Tarar said that the Punjab Assembly was not dissolved by the Governor but according to the law, it was automatically dissolved after 48 hours on the advice of the Chief Minister, on which the matter was referred to the Lahore High Court. The court ordered the election commission to announce the date of the election after consultation, on which the governor had also filed an appeal.
He said that despite the matter being heard in two high courts, two judges of the Supreme Court sent a note to the Chief Justice in the CCPO Lahore transfer case that a suo motu notice process was initiated on delay in the elections.
He said that initially a nine-member bench was formed during the hearing two judges separated themselves from the bench, while two judges ordered to dismiss the petitions then a five-member bench was formed, and two more judges agreed with the decision to dismiss the petitions and the bench remained three-member, he added.
He said that during the hearing of the petitions, the government and political parties requested the court to decide in this matter that the petitions were rejected by a majority of four to three. In this regard, political parties and bar councils demanded the Supreme Court form a full court, which was rejected, he added.
He said that the most senior judges of the Supreme Court were kept away from the bench while the junior judges were included in the bench. After the decision on the date of the election in Punjab, the federal cabinet carefully reviewed the decision and the parliament passed a resolution that the elections of national and provincial assemblies should be held at the same time in the country, he added.
He said that the Supreme Court has given the date of the election in Punjab on May 14, but with reference to KPK, it had been asked to contact the relevant forum. In this way, if elections were held first in Punjab and then in KP and then in the other two provincial and national assembly elections, not only financial problems would arise but also a continuous problem would arise in the future, he added.
He said that Punjab was the largest province in the country in terms of population and there was a fear that the National Assembly elections would be affected in case of election.
The federal minister further said that the security situation in the country was alarming and the security forces had asked for personnel equal to half of the country’s army for peaceful elections, which was difficult to provide at this time. Apart from this, the non-allocation of election expenses in the budget of the current financial year was also a problem, he added.
The Federal Law Minister said that the legal process is ongoing with reference to the Supreme Court’s suo motu notice.
He said that the position of the federal government was that the minority decision was not acceptable and the federal cabinet had also expressed reservations about the decision of the Supreme Court.
The Law Minister said there should not be an impression of a one-man show in the Supreme Court while deciding on constitutional and legal issues. The court should decide not a single person and Constitutional and legal issues should be resolved under the Constitution itself which should include a common vision of the court, he added.
He said that the court order came on Article 184/3 on the issue of elections, which was first rejected by a circular and then by a six-member bench.
He said that when the court’s decision came on March 1, the government’s position was that the case was dismissed by a majority of four against three and thus, four judges dismissed the petitions while two judges refused to hear the case.
He said that if the full court did not decide this, the political and constitutional crisis in the country would become severe.
He further said that the Federal Cabinet was of the opinion that the majority decision should not be converted into a minority decision as the government considered that a full court decision would have been better on the most sensitive national issue.
He said that in view of the law and order situation, the date of the election had been extended in the country in the past.
The Law Minister said that there should not be a situation of conflict between the court and the government. Due to the lack of unity among the judges, the reputation of the court was affected, he added.
He said that due to security concerns in Punjab and KPK, many questions related to a conducive environment for elections remain unresolved.
The Law Minister said that in 2017, the government had decided that the next elections would be held on the basis of the new census. Due to the objections of political parties on the last census, the digital census was decided and the process of the census was going on in the country, he added.
He said that if there were elections in two provinces based on the old and new census in other provinces and the federal one, problems would arise and political parties would also have concerns.
Azam Nazeer Tarar said that according to the constitution, transparency of elections in the country did not require conflicts, but political stability.
In response to a question, the Federal Law Minister said that a decision should be taken by the full court regarding the holding of elections and if the full court was not formed, there was a possibility of a constitutional and political crisis in the country.
He said that a 13-member bench of the Supreme Court should be formed which could hear and decide on this matter in a few days.
The Law Minister said that not only the political parties would agree with the decision of the full court, but the people of the entire country would also agree with the decision of the full court of the Supreme Court, which could avoid the ongoing constitutional and political crisis in the country.
