ISLAMABAD:Minister for Law Azam Nazeer Tarar has again demanded of constituting full court bench to resolve the matters pertaining to holding elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
Briefing the foreign media on the Supreme Court’s verdict and the government’s stance on it here in Islamabad on Thursday, he said the solution to the prevailing constitutional, political and legal complications is to hold elections once and same time in the entire country to ensure transparency and fairness.
The Minister said if the elections are held in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in compliance with the court’s orders and again in October after completion of constitutional term of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies of Sindh and Balochistan, it will create another constitutional and political crisis.
Responding to a question, Azam Nazeer Tarar said the judgment of the Supreme Court may deter the Election Commission. He said the government thinks that the judgment of the three-member bench is not a constitutional order unless and until the controversy of the decisions by 4-3 and 3-2 judges is set right. He said the government and the parliament think that the judgment is not executable or difficult to execute.
Replying to a question, the Minister said dialogue is one of the decent choices at the moment to resolve the issues, which have become quite complicated now. He said if the elections are held in Punjab in the presence of a political government at the Center, it can raise questions over its transparency, fairness and impartiality.
He said the Supreme Court should have considered the ground realities, concerns that were raised and security situation while handing down its verdict as there are security threats in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said keeping in view the financial conditions of the country, it is also difficult to print the electoral material twice.
The Minister said there should also be conducive atmosphere for conducting elections and the constitution provides room to fix all the election related matters under Article 254. He said the political parties would have also concerns over holding elections on the basis of two different censuses if polls are held in two provincial assemblies now and in rest of the assemblies in October.
