Whatever the outcome of the elections, the Supreme Court will protect the constitution: Bandial, CJP

ISLAMABAD – Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial stated on Friday that if the conversation between the government and the PTI fails, the highest court would move in accordance with the constitution and will not remain idle on the May 14 election problem.

The Supreme Court began hearing on the petition to conduct general elections for the National Assembly and provincial legislatures in a single day after the coalition government and the major opposition party, the PTI, sat together for three days to try to work out the problem. At 11:30 a.m., a three-judge Supreme Court bench comprised of Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, and Justice Munib Akhtar started hearing.

The PTI filed a report in court, saying that no settlement had been reached and requesting that the court implement its April 4 judgement regarding Punjab elections.

— The hearing on Friday —

At the start of the hearing, Pakistan’s Attorney General, Mansoor Usman Awan, said that the government has given its response to the negotiations with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). He said that PPP lawyer Farooq H. Naek will provide a report to the court on the discussions.

Mr Naek told the court that the federal government has filed a joint plea over the Punjab election schedule. During the conversations, he added, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani served as a mediator. He said that the PTI and the governing coalition had five rounds of discussions.

“The coalition parties informed the PTI about the country’s current economic situation and ongoing negotiations with the IMF,” Mr Naek said. He went on to say that the PTI was also aware of the poor economic condition. He said that additional time was required for discussions.

The CJP questioned why the government’s answer underlined the IMF deal. “The issue before the court is constitutional, not political,” he said. According to him, the court “leaves the political matter to the political parties.”

The IMF loan, according to Mr Naek, is “necessary for the budget.” He said that if the legislatures were disbanded, the budget would not be passed. “If the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assemblies had not been dissolved, this crisis would not have occurred,” he said. He said that the issue was also wasting the court’s time.

The top judge inquired if the IMF loan will be added to the government’s fund reserves or utilised to cover obligations. No one could disagree that the Constitution requires elections to be conducted within 90 days of the assembly’s dissolution, he added. The PPP lawyer concurred, adding that there were no two ways about it.

Dialogue between the PTI and the government

The PTI-government negotiations were aimed at reaching an agreement on a date for nationwide elections. However, when the discussions completed on Tuesday, the PTI informed the court in a report that no solution could be reached and requested it to carry out its decision to conduct elections in Punjab on May 14. The court also issued a written order of the April 27 hearing.

“Today, the learned Attorney General for Pakistan has apprised the Court about the communication between the Government coalition and the Opposition regarding the matter of general elections,” according to the written ruling. He also said that preliminary procedures had been done for the nomination of members of the negotiating team from both sides, as well as items pertaining to their meeting.

In response to the court’s question about why the Senate chairman was involved, Farooq H. Naek, Sr. ASC, learned counsel for Pakistan Peoples Party, stated that the Senate was chosen because it is the House of Parliament where the provinces have equal representation and all political parties are present. The Senate chairman will solely serve as a facilitator, with no real engagement.