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.
\nA 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.
\nDuring 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.
\nThe 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 Comm\u00adission 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\u2019s proceedings.
\nA day earlier, the court heard identical pleas \u2014filed by the defence ministry and a citizen \u2014 seeking elections to all the assemblies at the same time. It had, however, declared the defence ministry\u2019s plea as inadmissible.
\nAhead 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\u2019s Tariq Bashir Cheema, MQM leader Sabir Hussain Qaimkhani, JI emir Sirajul Haq and others arrived at the court.
\nAt the outset of the proceeding, CJP Bandial lauded the efforts of JI\u2019s Haq on holding a dialogue between the government and the opposition, saying that the court would also do its part in this \u201cgood deed\u201d.
\nFor his part, PTI\u2019s Qureshi said that his party respected the courts and asserted that the country could only move forward by upholding the Constitution. \u201cWe are with the SC, let\u2019s see what is the government\u2019s stance,\u201d he added.
\nAt that, the petitioner\u2019s 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.
\nThe counsel also requested that elections should be held simultaneously throughout the country.
\nAcknowledging the presence of the political leaders, the CJP expressed his gratitude and stated that the leadership was willing to address the problem at hand.
\nHe 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.
\nJustice 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.
\nThe CJP noted that Farooq H. Naek, representing the PPP, had also expressed support for the same argument, but a boycott prevented progress.
\nThe 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.
\nHe 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.
\nNaek 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.
\nHe 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\u2019s political dialogue would be completed immediately after Eid.
\nSubsequently, PML-N representative and Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique came to the rostrum and reiterated the PPP\u2019s stance. He said that his party also wanted elections to be held simultaneously.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t want anarchy and unrest in the country,\u201d he said, stressing that PML-N believed in dialogue and wanted to derive solutions to political issues through negotiations.
\nRafique also said that the PML-N had called a meeting of allies after Eid and was ready to talk to the opposition.
\nAfter Rafique, the representatives of all the allied parties \u2014 MQM, BNP and PML-Q \u2014 told the court that they wanted elections to be held at the same time and supported dialogue.
\nThe 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.
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