The Supreme Court of Pakistan’s three-member bench, comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, and Justice Munib Akhtar will deliver the verdict on a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) petition against a delay in Punjab Assembly elections on Tuesday after a three-member bench reserved the ruling.
The Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decided to postpone polls to the Punjab Assembly until October 8, 2023 earlier last month. The bench heard all parties, including the government, the PTI and the ECP, but did not hear the counsels of the coalition parties on Monday.
“We will not accept if a decision is made in haste on such a sensitive and important issue. We have tried our best to maintain the institution’s sanctity,” Law minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said during the National Assembly session on Monday.
Tarar said a decision made in haste on such a sensitive and important issue will not be accepted and criticised the judiciary for giving “a dictator nine years instead of three months”.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government also urged Pakistan President Dr. Arif Alvi to immediately sign the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Act, 2023 and help Pakistan end the constitutional and political crisis.
Foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari warned that Pakistan faces the risk of being pushed into an “emergency-like situation” or “martial law” due to the ongoing constitutional crisis.
He said if the Supreme Court does not constitute a larger bench to hear the PTI’s petition against the ECP’s decision to postpone polls to the Punjab Assembly the nation could be pushed to the brink, calling for a larger bench to prevent a constitutional crisis that could lead to an emergency or martial law.
Former prime minister Imran Khan said Pakistan is at a turning point in its constitutional history and it has two choices, either become junta-governed Myanmar or follow the footsteps of Turkey, referring to the military coup that was thwarted in 2016 and allowed democracy to prevail.
“Today we stand at a crossroads in our constitutional history where we can either become Turkey or become another Myanmar. Each one of us has to choose whether to stand with the constitution, rule of law and democracy like the Justice Movement or side with the corrupt mafia, the law of the jungle and fascism,” Imran Khan said in a tweet.
The postponement of the Punjab Assembly elections is now the most pressing issue in Pakistan, despite the economic crisis, with the opposition accusing the ECP of overstepping its mandate and violating the Constitution.
The PTI has called for fresh elections, arguing that the ECP’s decision to postpone the elections was unconstitutional and a violation of the rights of the people of Punjab.
The ECP has defended its decision, saying it was taken in the interest of public safety and to ensure free and fair elections and since the situation is restive in Pakistan’s northwestern provinces, it cannot hold elections at this point.
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