ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Monday morning repeated their demand that the Supreme Court (SC) should form a full court bench to hear the petition challenging the interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution by the Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker during the Punjab chief minister elections. PDM leaders warned that conspirators shouldn’t be allowed to succeed, or it would create anarchy in country.
Addressing a joint news conference, leaders of political parties under the PDM, including the movement’s chief and Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Vice President Maryam Nawaz, Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and others.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman said he cannot envision justice from the current SC bench.
“Everyone should practice self-assessment,” the JUI-F leader remarked.
He seconded the call of Maryam Nawaz and Bilawal Bhutto to devise a full SC bench to give out verdicts pertaining to parliamentary rifts in the future.
The JUI-F chief also requested the authorities to ascertain the safety of people’s representatives.
During the news conference, PPP Chairman Bilawal said that we cannot let three people decide the future of the country.
He demanded that a full court bench be formed to hear and decide on the petitions filed by all political parties so that everyone acknowledges court verdicts without any issue.
He added that unless this is done, the political situation in the country could spiral out of control.
The PPP chairman further said that PDM only wants that the institutions to be ‘noncontroversial’.
Earlier in the press conference, Maryam Nawaz had expressed reservations about a slew of court verdicts since 2016 adding that contempt of court comes from within the very institution when judgments are contradictory.
She said there is a whole list of wrong verdicts, citing the opening of the Supreme Court registry at night to admit a petition of PTI against the election of Hamza Shahbaz as the chief minister of Punjab.
Nothing of this kind ever happened in the past, she lamented.
She protested that the judiciary turned a blind eye to the holistic destruction brought about by Imran Khan and supported his manipulative tactics to bring down the government of Nawaz Sharif.
She accused that Justice Khosa helped PTI chairman out of the way to dismiss Nawaz Sharif through the Iqama case.
The PML-N leader said that Imran Khan and his followers bully the judicial bench through foul language and behavior yet no one takes it as contempt of court.