The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday (today) resumed hearing a plea seeking to hold general elections to all the national and provincial assemblies in the country simultaneously.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar is hearing the case.
During the previous hearing, the apex court had said it was ready to show flexibility, provided political parties came to a consensus on elections, but at the same time made it clear that it was difficult for the court to go back on its order fixing May 14 as the date for elections to the Punjab Assembly.
The court had issued notices to the PTI, PML-N, PPP, JUI-F, MQM-P, BNP-Mengal, Awami National Party, Balochistan Awami Party, PML-Q, the law secretary, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan and Jamaat-i-Islami, asking the parties to send their senior office-bearers for today’s proceedings.
A day earlier, the court heard identical pleas —filed by the defence ministry and a citizen — seeking elections to all the assemblies at the same time. It had, however, declared the defence ministry’s plea as inadmissible.
Ahead of the hearing today, a number of political leaders including Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar, PTI leaders Fawad Chaudhry and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, PML-N leaders Khawaja Saad Rafique and Ayaz Sadiq, PML-Q’s Tariq Bashir Cheema, MQM leader Sabir Hussain Qaimkhani, JI emir Sirajul Haq and others arrived at the court.
At the outset of the proceeding, CJP Bandial lauded the efforts of JI’s Haq on holding a dialogue between the government and the opposition, saying that the court would also do its part in this “good deed”.
For his part, PTI’s Qureshi said that his party respected the courts and asserted that the country could only move forward by upholding the Constitution. “We are with the SC, let’s see what is the government’s stance,” he added.
At that, the petitioner’s counsel, Shah Khawar, informed the court that representatives of a number of political parties were present in the courtroom and suggested that each leader should be given a chance to speak.
The counsel also requested that elections should be held simultaneously throughout the country.
Acknowledging the presence of the political leaders, the CJP expressed his gratitude and stated that the leadership was willing to address the problem at hand.
He cautioned that relying solely on court orders to find a solution could lead to complications, but acknowledged that political parties working together could pave the way for a solution.
Justice Bandial noted that both the Ministry of Defence and the petitioner were calling for simultaneous elections across the country. He also mentioned that the attorney general had previously raised a similar point, which had unfortunately been subject to political obstruction.
The CJP noted that Farooq H. Naek, representing the PPP, had also expressed support for the same argument, but a boycott prevented progress.
The chief justice cited newspaper reports indicating that the PPP and PML-N leadership supported dialogue as a means of resolving the issue, at which Naek informed the court about the presence of Khawaja Saad Rafique, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Tariq Bashir Cheema as well as MQM, and BNP representatives.
He told the court that the ruling political alliance believed that the 90-day period for elections had passed and that the court had already extended the date for polls twice.
Naek also stated that political parties had already started working together for the elections, with Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto meeting JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman on the matter.
He informed the court that they would meet with the PTI to end the ongoing tensions, with the aim would be to create a political consensus and said that the government coalition’s political dialogue would be completed immediately after Eid.
Subsequently, PML-N representative and Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique came to the rostrum and reiterated the PPP’s stance. He said that his party also wanted elections to be held simultaneously.
“We don’t want anarchy and unrest in the country,” he said, stressing that PML-N believed in dialogue and wanted to derive solutions to political issues through negotiations.
Rafique also said that the PML-N had called a meeting of allies after Eid and was ready to talk to the opposition.
After Rafique, the representatives of all the allied parties — MQM, BNP and PML-Q — told the court that they wanted elections to be held at the same time and supported dialogue.
The petition, filed by citizen Sardar Kashif Khan, said that in the prevailing situation in Pakistan, it was best to hold general elections to all the assemblies at the same time, instead of in a piecemeal manner.
SC resumes hearing on pleas seeking polls on same date
