In NA, defence minister Kh Asif says SC attempting to hinder govt from completing five-year term n Judiciary should be made accountable for its all decisions including ex-PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's case and disqualifying two ex-chief executives Nawaz Sharif and Yousuf Raza Gilani from holding public office.
ISLAMABAD - Minister for Defence Khwaja Muhammad Asif in Tuesday’s National Assembly in a clear message to the Supreme Court remarked that parliament would not surrender its authority and judiciary should be made accountable of its history. He also claimed that the Supreme Court is attempting to prevent the federal government from completing its term. The minister’s remarks came hours after Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial instructed Attorney General for Pakistan to provide copies of Parliament’s proceedings regarding the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, which curtails the powers of the top judge, to understand lawmakers’ concerns. “Parliament is the supreme institution and being defender of the Constitution will not allow any extra-constitutional step,” he said, terming the CJP's demands as trespass.
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“The Supreme Court has sought proceedings of this house which are not hidden from anybody,” the minister said, mentioning that we should provide the court with the proceedings but the parliament should also seek records of their matters. The defence minister demanded a historical record of judges and their actions since Pakistan’s creation to be made public. “The proceedings of the House are shown on TV, but the judicial proceedings are not. We respect the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court needs the minutes of Parliament’s proceedings, we will provide them, but the Speaker should also request the record of judicial proceedings from the Supreme Court,” he said. The minister said that the judiciary should be made accountable for former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s case and disqualifying two ex-chief executives Nawaz Sharif and Yousuf Raza Gilani from holding public office. Going into the past political history of prime ministers, the PML-N senior MNA said that former PM Nawaz Sharif stepped down as the prime minister in July 2017 after being disqualified from holding public office by the top court. He was disqualified for failing to disclose his un-withdrawn receivables constituting assets from UAE-based Capital FZE in his nomination papers for the 2013 general elections. The top court, in June 2012, had disqualified PPP’s Yusuf Raza Gilani as prime minister. He said the trend of disqualifying the prime ministers of the country should be ended now.
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“We should protect our prime ministers irrespective of his political affiliation,” he remarked. “We are holding talks with PTI but it does not come in the precinct of the court to dictate us for holding negotiations,” he said adding that it was not written in the Constitution to ask for conducting dialogue. The minister in his hard-hitting speech said that a house committee should also be constituted to examine the cases decided by the judiciary in the past. The facts should come before the masses, he said. The minister called for unity among all parties in defending the Parliament, emphasising the importance of the mandate of elected representatives in the country’s system. “The people’s representatives reach Parliament after winning millions of votes. There is no substitute for the mandate of the public representatives in this country’s system,” he said.
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Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Shazia Marri said the Supreme Court should not interfere in the matters of the parliament which is the mother of all institutions in democracy. She said the judiciary should also understand the sanctity and respect of the parliament. PAC Chairman Noor Alam Khan was of the view that no court can seek proceedings of the parliament. He, however, said that the Public Accounts Committee has the authority to seek records of the accounts of courts and other institutions. MNA from treasury benches Aslam Bhootani said that the house should not provide its proceedings to the Supreme Court. He said we respect the court but it should also respect the parliament. The house also adopted a motion authorizing the Speaker to constitute a special committee to investigate into the recent audio leak of the son of former Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar.
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The audio recording purportedly features Najam Saqib demanding money from a PTI ticket holder. The motion was moved by Shahida Akhtar Ali, who demanded the formation of a special committee to conduct a forensic analysis of the audio and interview the persons speaking in it. The motion further stated that the investigating agency should also conduct an investigation of the audio. The passing of this motion comes after the leaked audio recording caused a stir in the country’s politics.