ISLAMABAD, Apr 04 (APP): Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar on Tuesday said his ministry, as per the Federal Cabinet’s decision, would write to the Supreme Court for the hearing of presidential reference regarding the “judicial murder” of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto by a full court bench.
Speaking in the National Assembly, the minister said Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had given the country a unanimous Constitution, but his “judicial murder” reference had been pending in the apex court for the past 12 years.
He said the Ministry of Law and Justice, as per the cabinet’s decision, would write to the apex court to form a full court bench to hear the reference so that it might get an opportunity to rectify the historic mistake in the judicial history.
The then president Asif Ali Zardari had sent the reference under Article 186 on April 2, 2011, to the Supreme Court.
Azam Tarar said he was sad over the three-member bench’s judgment as the apex court was requested multiple times to constitute a full court bench to decide the polls delay case.
He said, “Collective wisdom was needed to avert the constitutional crisis and stop further deteriorating the prevailing ones.” The Parliament had also passed a resolution in that regard, he added.
The minister said, “The division in the apex court was pointed out, which was requested not to make any decision in haste.”
The Attorney General for Pakistan, he said, had also requested the court during the last day’s hearing to form a seven-member bench but the same was rejected. Another request for a 13-member bench was also turned down.
The legal team would decide about the future course of action on the matter, he added.
He said the coalition parties in the present government were not made parties in the case and their lawyers did not get even a single chance to speak during the last six days of the hearing. He felt sorrow over “the creation of such a crisis,” he added.
The minister said it was also “meaningful” that a six-member bench had been formed to review the judgment of Justice Qazi Faez Isa which had ordered to stop the proceedings of cases initiated under Article 184/3 of the Constitution until the formation of the SC rules.
The matter related to Justice Isa’s verdict seemed to have not been addressed with an executive order, he
added.
He said, “There should not be any environment of conflicts in institutions and the impression of political engineering through institutions should also to be avoided.”
Azam Tara said the government wanted free and fair elections across the country simultaneously. He cited according to Article 224 of the Constitution, general elections should be held at the same time across the country, while as per Article 254 polls could be postponed due to some extraordinary situation.
The Election Commission of Pakistan had the mandate to adjust the schedule of the election keeping in view the ground realities but the Supreme Court had itself given the date in its verdict now, he added.
The minister said the two provincial assemblies were dissolved by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led governments in January just to satisfy the ego of PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
The three-member SC bench’s verdict regarding elections in Punjab, he claimed, would further deepen the constitutional and political crises in the country.
“We have reservations about the decision and our legal team will decide about the future course of action after consultations”, he added.
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