Pakistan’s parliament rejects court order for rapid provincial polls

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Lawyer for opposition leader Imran Khan’s party says the resolution passed by the National Assembly has “no backing from the law”.

Pakistan’s parliament has passed a resolution rejecting the Supreme Court’s order to hold early elections for two provincial legislatures in the country.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declared unconstitutional the electoral panel’s decision to postpone elections in the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party had dissolved local governments in those provinces earlier this year.

The motion was introduced by lawmaker Khalid Magsi on Thursday at a session of the Pakistan National Assembly in the capital, Islamabad.

The house speaker said in a live broadcast that a majority of lawmakers had voted to reject the decision of the court’s three-member panel headed by the chief justice and demand that a full court panel consisting of all judges hear the case.

Power struggle in the midst of economic crisis

The court’s order says that elections should go ahead in two provinces, despite the government’s reluctance to hold the vote as it grapples with an economic crisis and a political challenge from the opposition.

It gave a May 14 date for voting in Pakistan’s largest and most populous province, Punjab, but the date for voting in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was still pending due to technical difficulties.

It also ordered the government to release funds worth 21 billion rupees ($73.36 million) to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the vote and told it to update the court before April 11.

‘Parliament submits attack on Supreme Court’

A lawyer for Khan’s party said the resolution passed by parliament has “no backing from the law”.

“Parliament has, in fact, launched an unprecedented attack against the Supreme Court of Pakistan,” Faisal Fareed Chaudhry told Al Jazeera.

“Had this parliament been a representative of the Pakistani people, it would have passed a resolution regarding the economic and governance crises; tried to solve them,” he said.

The government and the judiciary have been at odds and parliament last week introduced a bill to limit the chief justice’s powers.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government has said the poor economic condition of the country has prevented it from spending money on the early polls and then on the general elections due later this year.

Sharif was present in parliament during Thursday’s session, but left after the resolution was passed.

Khan’s Pakistani party Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allies had dissolved provincial governments, hoping this would force Sharif’s government to conduct early polls across the country, the PTI’s longstanding demand since Khan a year ago through a parliamentary vote of no confidence.

Pakistan historically holds national and provincial elections together. However, the ECP is also required by the constitution to hold elections within 90 days of the dissolution of a legislative assembly.

But when the ECP refused to release dates for the polls, the Supreme Court in February took “suo motu” notice of the delay and, in a split 3-2 verdict, ordered the polling panel to review the schedule for elections in the two provinces. A suo motu notice is when a court takes a case on its own without formal inducement from another party in status.

Shortly after his ouster last April, Khan and his party launched a nationwide campaign demanding immediate general elections, which the government repeatedly rejected.

“When I decided to dissolve my two meetings [in the states governed by PTI], we have top lawyers in the country. We all looked at the constitution and every one of them said that the moment you dissolve the assemblies, elections should be held within 90 days. It is unequivocal,” Khan told Al Jazeera in an exclusive interview.

“So if the government does not accept the Supreme Court ruling, it means they are now violating the Constitution. In that case, the Supreme Court could strike contempt [charges] on them,” he said.

“And let me assure everyone that all the people of Pakistan would support the Supreme Court. I think it just won’t be the MOT.”

Abid Hussain of Al Jazeera reported from Islamabad





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