SC begins hearing defence ministry’s request to recall Punjab elections order

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has begun hearing the defence ministry’s petition requesting that the court recall its orders regarding the May 14 elections in Punjab.

The application was scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court at 11:30 a.m. today, but the hearing began at 2 p.m.

Previously, on April 4, a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Bandial and comprised of Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan declared the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to postpone elections for the Punjab Assembly as “unconstitutional” and ordered the province to hold elections on May 14.

On April 14, the same bench directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to release Rs21 billion to the ECP for the conduct of elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and to send a “appropriate communication” to the finance ministry by Monday (April 17).

In addition to its report, the defence ministry filed a civil miscellaneous application in court yesterday (Tuesday), asking the court to recall its April 4 order.

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“The order dated 04-04-2023 be recalled with the directions that general elections to the National and all Provincial Assemblies be held together, upon completion of the terms of the National and the other two Provincial Assemblies Sindh and Balochistan,” it said.

“Due to the prevalent security situation and counter-terrorist operations being carried out in the K-P and Balochistan, as well as the intelligence-based operations in Punjab and Sindh, the Armed Forces, Rangers, Frontier Constabulary, and other forces are not logistically available to be repositioned and reposted for providing election security, twice in a span of 6 months.

“Significant time is required to prepare the members of the Armed Forces for election duty, given much of the force has been actively engaged in operations, for a considerable period of time.

“The security situation in Punjab and Sindh has been stable in light of the efforts of the ongoing operations in the K-P and Balochistan, respectively. Therefore, any diversion of troops from the K-P and Balochistan will result in directly affecting the security situation in Punjab and Sindh.”

The defence ministry also said that it had reasons to believe that India’s top spy agency has planned to exploit fault lines of the country to hurt the federation of Pakistan if elections at the Punjab Assembly are held prior to elections for the national legislature and other provincial assemblies.

“The RAW [Research and Analysis Wing] identified fault lines to hurt the federation of Pakistan especially [by fanning] ethnic issues, water disputes, [the alleged] resource capture and monopoly of Punjab and as terrorists say in Balochistan, the colonisation by Punjab.

“As a result, holding general elections for the Punjab Assembly would exacerbate the situation,” the ministry stated in a report submitted to the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Notably, top military officials met with CJP Bandial and the other two apex court judges who were also on the bench hearing the Punjab polls case.

According to sources, the meeting between the judges and the military officials lasted more than three hours in the CJP’s chamber. According to them, the intelligence official briefed the judges on the country’s security issues.

Meanwhile, the ECP expressed its own reservations about the provision of Punjab Assembly elections on May 14, warning that “anarchy and chaos” could erupt in the country if the election schedule is not followed.

Along with the electoral watchdog, the Ministry of Finance and the central bank (SBP) submitted reports to the court yesterday informing it of the non-release of funds for election provision despite court orders.

It should be noted that the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue returned to the government on Monday (yesterday) issues concerning election funds.

On the same day, the lower house rejected the government’s motion to grant Rs21 billion to the federal government to cover uncharged expenditure on the ECP during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023.

With the ongoing conflict within the Supreme Court and the possibility of a clash with Parliament, all eyes are on CJ Bandial and how he and his fellow judges will ensure compliance with the judicial order to hold Punjab Assembly elections on May 14.