SC bars institutions from ‘extra-constitutional’ steps

[ghazi52]

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SC bars state institutions from taking 'extra-constitutional' steps​

Top court adjourns haring on ‘constitutional crisis’ till tomorrow, issues notice to AGP over NA speaker's ruling


Hasnaat Malik
April 03, 2022

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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Sunday barred all state institutions from taking any 'extra-constitutional' steps in the wake of the dismissal of the no-confidence vote in the National Assembly against Prime Minister Imran Khan and the subsequent approval of the president to dissolve the assembly at the advice of the premier.

A three judge bench of the apex court led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar heard the matter.

CJP Bandial observed that public order must be maintained and no state functionary shall take any ‘extra-constitutional’ step in the prevailing political situation.

The top court, after issuing notices to the Attorney General Pakistan and others on the matter, adjourned the hearing till Monday (tomorrow).

The apex court also directed the AGP to determine the constitutionality of NA speaker’s ruling.

Earlier, CJP Bandial arrived at the apex court, which was especially opened on a Sunday in light of the day's unusual turn of events.

The leaders of the joint opposition as well as PTI's ministers also arrived at the SC. The opposition has dismissed the ruling party’s actions as unconstitutional.

The petition filed by the opposition maintained that it is “most respectfully prayed that the act of the Deputy Speaker by proroguing the Session of Parliament on the vote of No Confidence Motion may be held to be in violation of fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan and against Article 66, 95, 17(2) and other enabling provisions and this act and all consequences thereafter may be set aside by declaring the same illegal, ultra vires to the Constitution and consequently the Speaker/ Deputy Speaker National Assembly may be directed to conduct the vote count on No Confidence Motion of the members present in the National Assembly on the floor of the house and declared the result of the No Confidence Motion.

“It is further prayed that the respondents may be directed not to interfere with the vote count and smooth voting on the resolution of No Confidence of the Prime Minister as per the Agenda today.

“It is also prayed that the Respondents and other delinquent persons involved in abrogating and subverting the Constitution may also very graciously be tried with and dealt strictly with in accordance with the law.
“Any other direction or relief which this Honorable Court deems fit and proper in the vindication of grievance aforesaid."

SCBA files petition

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) also filed a constitutional petition with the Supreme Court in light of today's events.

The lawyers' association prayed in its petition that the SC declares the “impugned order of dissolution of the National Assembly issued under Article 58(1) of the Constitution is without lawful authority and of no legal effect.”
It urged the apex court to declare that the speaker could not give a ruling after the resolution for the vote of no-confidence was moved on March 28.

"Declare that all acts of the Respondents dated 03-04-2022 and all acts, directions, instructions, orders etc. taken by the Respondents or any other state functionaries in pursuance of the impugned order of dissolution of the National Assembly are without lawful authority and of no legal effect," the SCBA's petition further maintained.

The resolution of no-confidence was sought to be declared still pending before the National Assembly and voting on it held immediately.

"Restrain all state functionaries from acting in pursuance of the illegal and unlawful orders, actions, instructions of the Respondents dated 03-04-2022, during the pendency of the titled Petition," the SCBA further prayed.

NA proceedings
National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri had earlier dismissed the no-confidence motion submitted by the joint opposition, terming it "unconstitutional" under Article 5.

In a talk with the media, PPP Chairperson Bilawal said the deputy speaker committed an 'unconstitutional act' by dismissing the no-trust motion against Imran.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif termed Imran Khan a traitor of the Constitution and democracy.

Shehbaz said that Article 6 is now applicable on “Imran Niazi and his followers for openly violating the Constitution”.
Shehbaz Sharif referred to the premier’s actions as anarchic and urged the chief justice of Pakistan to save the country from crisis.

“It is hoped that the Supreme Court will ensure the supremacy of the Constitution and fulfil its duty to protect the country from this violation of the Constitution,” the leader added.

SC bars institutions from ‘extra-constitutional’ steps | The Express Tribune

Apex court to take up opposition’s plea on NA matters today

tribune.com.pk

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[Thinker3]

All of these US funded media are doing propaganda against Pakistan and Imran Khan, I don't trust anything Dawn, Express Tribune, Geo and many paid journalists say.

 

[Goritoes]

Now the ball is in People of Pakistan's court, if you want IK to continue then in election make sure he is won by majority so he can not be blackmailed, but I hope IK change his Afghanistan policy cause his ethnic affiliation will damage Pakistan in long run.

 

[R2D2]

PTI should launch a 2nd strike by immediately arresting those involved in the conspiracy to prevent a counter strike.

 

[Crimson Blue]

Didn't this Kangaroo Court refused to listen to similar government petition on the same issue two days ago stating that :

"petition did not point out what questions of public importance were involved regarding the enforcement of fundamental constitutional rights and which merited directly invoking the SC's jurisdiction. The court official argued that the requirements for invoking the apex court's jurisdiction were thus not satisfied. Court registrar explained that the validity of parliamentary proceedings could not be called into question under Article 69".

So what made this court to revers its stance only after 2 days and now justices want to listen to it on emergent basis?

 

[Sugarcane]

Now the ball is in People of Pakistan's court, if you want IK to continue then in election make sure he is won by majority so he can not be blackmailed, but I hope IK change his Afghanistan policy cause his ethnic affiliation will damage Pakistan in long run.

I said in last elections and repeating it again, establishment stole IK's mandate in 2013, 2018 and will do same in next elections as well. Reason is simple, Elite doesn't want someone whose arms they can't twist, becoming Prime Minister with strong mandate.

 

[ghazi52]

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Set to decide on deputy speaker's ruling today, SC adjourns hearing till tomorrow​

Dawn.com
April 4, 2022


The Supreme Court adjourned on Monday its hearing on the legality of the current situation in the country following the dismissal of a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan by National Assembly (NA) Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri and the subsequent dissolution of the NA by President Arif Alvi on the prime minister's advice till 12pm on Tuesday (tomorrow).

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial had earlier in the day said the court would issue a "reasonable order" today on the issue.

His remarks had come as a larger bench of the Supreme Court – comprising the CJP, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail — took up the matter.

During the proceedings, Justice Ahsan noted that there were violations in the proceedings of the no-trust resolution.

Justice Bandial observed that a debate before voting on the no-confidence motion had been clearly mentioned in the law but didn't take place.

Meanwhile, Justice Akhtar expressed dubiousness over the deputy speaker's constitutional authority to pass such a ruling.

In my opinion, he said, only the speaker had the right to pass the ruling. "The deputy speaker chairs the session on the non-availability of the speaker."

On the other hand, the CJP also observed that the deputy speaker's ruling mentioned the meeting of the parliamentary committee for security. "The opposition deliberately didn't attend the meeting," he said.

Farooq H. Naek, who was representing the joint opposition, pleaded the court to issue a verdict on the matter today, pointing out to the bench that the president had already asked for names to appoint as caretaker prime minister.

But Justice Ahsan said it was impossible to pass the verdict today, adding that the apex court's decision will have far reaching outcomes. "We respect the opinions of political parties."

"We can't pass a decision in the air," Justice Bandial said, adjourning the hearing till 12pm on Tuesday.

Earlier, Naek had urged the CJP to form a full court bench to hear the matter, saying that the case concerned complex matters of the law and therefore all judges of the apex court should sit on the bench.

The CJP, however, asked Naek if he had objections to any judge on the five-member bench. "If there is a lack of confidence in any of the judges, the bench will rise," Justice Bandial said. To this, Naek said he had full confidence in all judges on the bench.

Justice Bandial said forming a full court bench would impede proceedings of other cases.

When PTI's counsel Babar Awan took the rostrum, the chief justice said that he wanted to hear the petitioners first. "If you want to give a statement, you can," Justice Bandial told Awan, who informed the court that the party was ready for the next election.

"The court will only review the speaker's ruling, not political statements," the chief justice remarked, reiterating that the court would give a "reasonable decision".

Naek told the court that the requisition notice for the NA session and no-confidence motion were submitted on March 8. "The speaker was bound to convene the session within 14 days but the meeting was called on March 27," he said.

However, Justice Mandokhail pointed out that the case did not concern when the NA session was summoned while Justice Akhtar said that the speaker had provided reasons for the delay. "You can argue whether the reasons provided were correct or incorrect," Justice Akhtar told Naek.

Suo motu notice​

Yesterday, CJP Bandial had taken suo motu notice of the situation and formed a three-member bench headed by CJP Bandial, and including Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, to take up the matter. Today, a larger bench of the apex court is hearing the case.

After a brief hearing on Sunday, a written order was issued which said the court would like to "examine whether such an action (dismissal of the no-trust motion on the basis of Article 5) is protected by the ouster (removal from the court's jurisdiction) contained in Article 69 of the Constitution."

Article 69 of the Constitution essentially restricts the court's jurisdiction to exercise authority on a member or officer of parliament with respect to the functions of regulating parliamentary proceedings or conducting business.
"No officer or member of Majlis-i-Shoora (parliament) in whom powers are vested by or under the Constitution for regulating procedure or the conduct of business, or for maintaining order in Majlis-i-Shoora, shall be subject to the jurisdiction of any court in respect of the exercise by him of those powers," clause two of the Article reads.
The court also ordered all state functionaries and authorities — as well as political parties — to refrain from taking any advantage of the current situation and stay strictly within the confines of the Constitution.
The court had also directed the interior and defence secretaries to brief it on the law and order situation.

President Alvi, the Supreme Court Bar Association and all political parties have been made respondents in the case.

The apex court rejected a request to suspend the deputy speaker's ruling and issued a notice to Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Khalid Jawed Khan to discuss the "constitutionality of the [deputy speaker's] decision" to dismiss the no-trust motion on the basis of Article 5 of the Constitution.

Article 5 obliges every citizen to be obedient to the Constitution and law and says that "loyalty to the State is the basic duty of every citizen".
In its written order, the court further observed that "prima facie, there is neither a finding recorded in the matter nor was a hearing granted to the affected party" as far as the deputy speaker's ruling is concerned.

However, the deputy speaker, in his detailed four-page ruling issued by the National Assembly Secretariat on Sunday evening, declared a “foreign state was interfering in the internal affairs of Pakistan and Prime Minister Imran Khan was its primary target”.

Suri said he could not give details about the foreign intentions and its links to the no-confidence motion, but they could be provided in an in-camera session. The deputy speaker also based his ruling on the recent meetings of the National Security Committee, federal cabinet and Parliamentary Committee on National Security that were briefed on the ‘threat’.

A joint petition, filed by the PPP, PML-N and JUI-F through Farooq H. Naek, Azam Nazir Tarar and Kamran Murtaza, has also requested the apex court to declare the ruling of the deputy speaker, as well as the advice of the prime minister to the president to dissolve the National Assembly and the subsequent dissolution of the assembly as illegal and unconstitutional.
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[ghazi52]

Latest in Supreme Court...........

ISLAMABAD: A five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court on Monday resumed hearing into a suo-moto notice over ruling from Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri against no-confidence motion with Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Umar Ata Bandial saying that they would issue an appropriate order on the matter, ARY NEWS reported.

Babar Awan appeared before the five-member bench and said that he was representing Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and would like to read out a court order of 21 March 2022.

The chief justice while leading the proceedings said that they would issue an appropriate order on the matter today and will only look into the proceedings of the National Assembly.

“We will not be listening to any other matter today,” he said.

Meanwhile, Advocate Naeem Bokhari also appeared before the bench and said that he would represent the speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly.

CJP rejects plea for full court bench ​

Farooq H Naek, who was representing PPP, asked the court to form a full court bench to which the chief justice asked if he does not have any trust on the existing bench. “Establishing a full court will affect other court proceedings,” the CJP responded.

To this Naek said that they have complete confidence on the bench.

The chief justice asked him to continue with his arguments saying that they would be assessing the legal and constitutional merits of whatever happened in the National Assembly.

During his arguments, the PPP counsel said that the speaker violated his mandate and pushed the country towards a constitutional crisis. When the CJP asked him to share the facts, he said that Fawad Chaudhry made a speech over a letter received from abroad, which was first pointed out by Imran Khan in his speech on March 27.

He argued that it was why the April 3 was chosen for the voting day and even on the day, the speaker did not allow debate on the matter even when the entire day was left for the matter.

The Supreme Court has formed a five-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan for the suo moto hearing over the deputy speaker’s ruling over the no-trust motion in the National Assembly.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel are other members of the bench.

Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan earlier said that whatever decision is given by the Supreme Court of Pakistan with regard to a ruling by Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri against no-trust move will be implemented.

During an argument with Justice Munib Akhtar, Farooq Naek said that there should be a debate when a question arises in the National Assembly to which the judge said that it could be a procedural mistake.

Naek, however, said that it was not a procedural matter.

Justice Munib Akhtar further remarked that it is his personal opinion that it is the prerogative of the speaker to give ruling and none other than him and the deputy speaker is only bound to run affairs as per the rules.

 

[ghazi52]

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Lawyers see a ‘conscious’ SC approach​

Apex court judges also urged the CJP to constitute the full court to hear the matter

Hasnaat Malik
April 04, 2022

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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has dampened the hopes of the opposition and the bars, which were expecting coercive order against the National Assembly speaker’s ruling that rejected the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan on the basis of Article 5 of the Constitution.

Several SC judges met Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial at his residence on Sunday to share their concern about the constitutional situation. It is also learnt that apex court judges also urged the chief justice to constitute the full court to hear this matter.

However, chief justice Bandial preferred to include Justice Ijazul Ahsan, who acted as monitoring judge in Panamagate case. Justice Ahsan is part of several special and larger benches which heard constitutional matters for last five years. Likewise, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, who is 15th on the judges’ seniority list, is also part of the bench.

Senior lawyers believe that the perception regarding the division among the Supreme Court judges had not ended. Keeping in view of this perception, they say that chief justice Bandial should form a larger bench wherein no one could raise allegation of favouritism.

They state that this move has made Article 95 of the Constitution “redundant”. A lawyer said that the constitution of bench in this matter indicated that the Supreme Court had adopted very “conscious approach”.

He, however, expected that the chief justice, while heading the larger bench, would consider all these aspects in this matter.

On the other hand, one section of opposition is happy over the prevailing political situation that Prime Minister Imran Khan ceased to hold the office on Sunday.

It is learnt that JUI-F is also happy over prevailing situation as their aim was to oust Imran Khan from the post of the prime minister. The PML-N is already divided on the early election. One section led by Nawaz Sharif was already demanding early elections.

In view of the prevailing situation, two deputy attorney generals resigned from their post. A member of the PTI legal team revealed that Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan is one of the architects of this plan. However, AGP denied this fact.

Bar representatives however are saying that if the AGP is not the architect of this move then he should resign from his post.
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[ghazi52]

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Court to decide embattled PM Imran Khan's fate​

BBC

BBC

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan (centre) ducked a no-confidence motion that was set to happen on 3 April.

Pakistan's supreme court is expected to decide the fate of embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan, following a day of political turmoil.
Mr Khan has faced an attempt to oust him from office in recent days.

But in a move that has roiled the country, members of Mr Khan's party on Sunday blocked a vote of no-confidence in the PM and dissolved parliament.

Mr Khan had claimed the vote was part of a US-led conspiracy to remove him, but the US has denied this.

Furious opposition politicians have now filed a petition to the Supreme Court to rule on whether the move to block the vote was constitutional.

The court was initially expected to decide by the end of Monday, but delayed the decision until Tuesday.
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[ghazi52]

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[ghazi52]

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[Ghazwa-e-Hind]

Here we go again.

Strategic delay by Election Commission which always has a soft spot for PMLN/PPP thugs.

It's all part of the plan.

First PDM started disinformation campaign to undermine the significance of NSC letter acknowledgement, and now election commission is making excuses that Elections are not possible in 90 days.

-- The system is rotten to the core. Why are they testing patience of a common man? The public wants PM Imran Khan to have 2/3rd Majority. We don't want to see PDM foreign puppets in power ever again.

General elections not possible in three months, say ECP sources

Cites various legal hitches and procedural challenges; senior official says preparations would require around six months.

www.dawn.com

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has expressed its inability to conduct general elections within three months, citing various legal hitches and procedural challenges as the reason.

A senior official of the ECP told Dawn that the preparations for the general elections would require some six months. He said fresh delimitation of constituencies, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the number of seats had been increased under the 26th Amendment, and bringing district- and constituency-wise electoral rolls in conformity were the major challenges.

“Delimitation is a time-consuming exercise where the law provides for one month’s time just to invite objections,” he said, adding that another one month was required to address the same. He said a minimum of three months would be required to complete the exercise, followed by another gigantic task of updating voters’ lists.

Read: With a meltdown across all of Pakistan’s major institutions, what lies ahead for Pakistan?

The official said procurement of election material, arrangement for ballot papers and appointment and training of polling staff were also amongst the challenges. He said that under the law, ballot papers with water mark were to be used which were not available in the country and would have to be imported. He revealed that the ECP had proposed to amend the law to provide for ballot papers with ‘security features’, instead of ‘water mark’.

Cites various legal hitches and procedural challenges
The official said inviting bids and scrutinising financial and technical quotations would also require some time. About the election material, he said some two million stamp pads would be required for around 100,000 polling stations. “This is just one example. Other materials in huge quantity, including scissors and ball points, will also have to be procured,” he remarked.

Referring to some legal hitches, the official said that under Section 14 of the Elections Act, the ECP was to announce an election plan four months prior to the polls. He said the law requiring use of EVMs (electronic voting machines) and giving overseas Pakistanis voting rights also held the field and had to be repealed.

The official said the commission had already announced the schedule for local government (LG) elections in Baluchistan, setting May 29 as the polling day, while the process was also under way to hold LG polls in Punjab, Sindh and Islamabad.

“We will have to drop the plan for LG polls, if general elections are to be conducted,” he noted.

Legal, operational challenges

Expressing grave concern over the recent political developments and ensuing constitutional crisis, the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) has identified multiple constitutional, legal and operational challenges to the conduct of an early election.

“While the constitutionality of the measures leading to the dissolution of the National Assembly will be decided by the Supreme Court, Fafen hopes for a prompt decision by the apex court, which rightly took up the matter suo moto, as any delay will continue to accrue collateral issues arising out of the constitutional deadlock.

“Public confusion and political divisions that have already arisen as a result can potentially translate into violent expression. Political parties have a great responsibility to manage their workers and make sure that political disagreements do not turn into violence, especially ahead of an early election,” Fafen said in a statement issued on Monday.

According to it, an early election may not be a smooth process in view of several constitutional and legal complications.

“The critical factor for the legitimacy of any election will be the completion of the Election Commission,” it said, pointing out that the ECP members from Punjab and KP were yet to be appointed. The constitutional procedure for appointment of the members under a caretaker set-up remains unclear under Article 213 (2B), which requires the prime minister and the opposition leader to initiate the process in a specially formed committee comprising only senators.

Another concern is the constitutional and legal status of the current delimitation of seats of the national and provincial assemblies since it was carried out on the basis of provisional results of the 2017 census.

Similarly, confusion continues to shroud the practicality and enforcement of the recent amendments to the Elections Act, 2017, pertaining to the use of EVMs and the facilitation of overseas Pakistanis to vote in their country of residence, which were passed by a joint sitting of parliament without the support of the opposition parties.

Fafen said it had always urged the need for electoral reforms through political consensus as majoritarian changes to the election law always led to challenges to the legitimacy of the election outcome and political stability.

The under-registration of women on the electoral rolls is also one of the major issues that the ECP had started to successfully address through targeted campaigns. While the ECP has been able to arrest the rising gender gap on the electoral rolls, there still are 11.37 million women who remain unregistered as voters.

In case the elections are called within three months, the electoral rolls will have to be frozen 30 days before the announcement of the election programme as per Section 39 of the Elections Act, thereby rendering millions of women voters disenfranchised.

Another challenge to early elections is the operational and logistical preparation by the ECP involving recruiting and training around one million polling staff, and printing, publishing and transportation of election materials as well as selection of locations for more than 10,000 polling stations that are to be established due to the addition of more than 15 million voters on the electoral rolls since the 2018 general elections.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

They want the average man to forget about the treason done Bilawal and Showbaz , cooling down the anger of people

 

[Chak Bamu]

Everything is part of a plan, except for whatever comes from Mahatam Imran. Baqi sab saazish hai.

Oye kon log O tussi?

Its the same crowd coming up with one idiotic thread after another. Cultish mindset.