Supreme Court Calls for All Political Parties to Provide Assurances
on Inter-Party Dialogue
The Supreme Court of the country
reconvened on Thursday to continue the hearing on multiple petitions that seek
to hold elections for both the National and Provincial Assemblies on the same
date. This comes after the Ministry of Defence had filed a plea on Tuesday
requesting the court to withdraw its previous order that had directed Punjab
polls to be held on May 14. In addition, two more pleas had been filed
subsequently, seeking simultaneous elections across the entire country.
During the hearing on Wednesday,
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial took a proactive step by
summoning all the political parties to attend the hearing on Thursday. The CJP
also requested assurances from the government regarding ongoing talks between
the political parties. He stated that if the political parties are able to
reach a consensus, the court may consider changing the date of elections
accordingly. However, he also emphasized that prolonging the matter should be
avoided, and if no agreement is reached among the political parties, the elections
will be conducted on May 14 as previously ordered by the court.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court expressed its willingness to
show flexibility in the matter of elections, but only if the political parties
can come to a consensus. However, the court made it clear that it would be
difficult to reverse its previous order that had fixed May 14 as the date for
elections to the Punjab Assembly.A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, led
by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, issued notices to various
political parties, including PTI, PML-N, PPP, JUI-F, MQM-P, BNP-Mengal, Awami
National Party, Balochistan Awami Party, PML-Q, as well as the law secretary,
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP)
Mansoor Usman Awan, and Jamaat-i-Islami, asking them to send their senior
office-bearers for the hearing scheduled for Thursday. Due to time constraints,
the court ordered the notices to be sent through different means, including
special messenger, as well as through electronic and print media.
The notices were issued in response to a petition filed by a
citizen, Sardar Kashif Khan, which highlighted alternative means of political
dialogue to resolve the impasse on holding elections for the Punjab and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa assemblies.
During the hearing, AGP Awan informed the Supreme Court about
his meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and mentioned that there was a
realization about the need for political engagement to ease the current
political tensions. He requested for more time, as both PML-N and PPP had
formed their respective committees for dialogue with PTI, and he believed that
PTI had also formed a three-member committee. He also noted that the JI emir
had already met the prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan.
The CJP acknowledged AGP's statement as "well
received" and recognized that the political process, which had been
stalled, has resumed with engagements with the opposition. However, the CJP
also emphasized the significance of the approaching May 14 deadline, stating
that the court may not be able to postpone the date for long, while noting the
resistance from ECP, federal government, and defence ministry to comply with
the April 4 order that had fixed May 14 as the election date. The CJP also
observed that the grounds of their reservations highlighted in their reports
were not relevant to the present petition.
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