Shehbaz Sharif takes a jab at Supreme Court, says arbitration not its job

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday took a jibe at the Supreme Court and said it was not its job to arbitrate among political parties and asserted that there was complete unity in the coalition government to hold polls simultaneously in the entire country.

Sharif was addressing a Cabinet meeting a day before a key hearing by the country's apex court, which will take up the issue of elections in Punjab province, a point of contention between the ruling coalition and the former premier Imran Khan-led opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

Prior to the meeting, Sharif held an important consultative session with the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition partners about holding talks with Khan's PTI party regarding the elections in Punjab province.

According to sources, the allies agreed to make an effort to hold talks with the PTI for conducting elections in the country on the same date.

The premier said that Pakistan is facing political challenges due to the differences between the government and the PTI party over the date of elections.

Khan's party is determined to press for polls in the provincial legislatures, but the government maintains its stance on simultaneous elections across the country.

Talking about the Supreme Court's direction to the government and opposition to hold talks, he said the court’s “job is not arbitration, but their job is to give orders as per the Constitution and law”. He said that Parliament was the right forum for such matters.

Adding that the current National Assembly would complete its term on August 13, and elections would be held after that, Sharif said there was complete unity in the coalition government and that polls should be held on the same day in the entire country.

According to the Constitution, elections shall be held within 90 days after the dissolution of the lower house. This means that the election must be held by mid-October. The last general election was held in July 2018.

The PTI dissolved the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies on January 14 and 18, respectively, in a bid to force the ruling PDM coalition in Islamabad to hold early general elections in the country.

Sharif pointed out that Parliament had rejected the decision of a three-member bench of the court to hold the election in the Punjab province on May 14.

“This is our moral and political responsibility to respect the decisions taken by the Parliament previously,” he said.

The prime minister declared that the federal government was ready for negotiations with the PTI, but such talks should be held through Parliament.

“There is also an opinion that we can convey our stance to them via the National Assembly speaker and, then a parliamentary committee can take up the matter so that the nation can know that this allied government has made its all-out efforts to ensure everyone unites on one-day polls,” Sharif said.

While accusing the PTI of spreading anarchy in the country and dividing the society, the premier said, "Even the Pakistan Army and its leadership were not spared in this. Some PTI agents outside Pakistan, who are enemies of the country, played a role that even an enemy won’t play … they issued such statements and tweets.” The development comes a day before the Supreme Court is scheduled to take up the issue of elections in Punjab.

Earlier this month, the court ordered the election to be held on May 14 and asked the government to provide Rs 21 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan for holding the polls.

The cash-strapped government has not provided the funds and faces the threat of contempt of court.

Last week, the Supreme Court asked all political parties to evolve a consensus on the date for holding simultaneous general elections to the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies expeditiously till April 26.

But so far no consensus has been reached, as no formal talks have been held.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led PDM coalition had earlier rejected the apex court order, saying that talks with the PTI party could not be held under the court’s watch.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is waiting for funds from the federal government to conduct the elections. The Defence Ministry has informed the ECP that the Pakistan Army will not be available to provide security.

The defence ministry had also filed a petition in the Supreme Court calling it to take back its order of holding polls on May 14. The case is being heard in the Supreme Court, and during the proceedings, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial remarked that the three-member bench will not take back the order.