Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial on Thursday said political matters should be resolved through dialogue and adjourned the hearing of a case related to delay in election to Punjab Assembly.
He said the court was not be issuing any order or timeline and that a detailed verdict would be released later.
The case was heard by a three member bench headed by the CJP and comprised of Justices Ijazul Ahsan and Munib Akhtar.
The CJP also remarked that the apex court could not force the government to hold negotiations with the opposition.
At the previous hearing, the court had asked political parties to hold talks on April 26 and come up with a response by today after giving stakeholders a chance to reach an agreement. Political parties had been asked to decide the matter quickly, since the May 14 date for elections was still in the field and the order was binding on all authorities.
However, no talks were held and the government also refused to comply with the April 4 directive.
“What steps has the government taken to show its good will? It seems like the government is playing pass-pass,” Justice Bandial said during today’s hearing.
The court was informed that the government contacted the opposition and both agreed to hold a meeting on April 26 in this regard.
It was further told that Ayaz Sadiq and Khawaja Saad Rafique from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and held a meeting with Asad Qaiser from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on April 25,.
The attorney general said Asad Qaiser said he was not authorised to decide on the matter of talks.
“The Senate chairman has asked both the government and opposition to nominate four names each [for the talks],” he said, adding that he had found out from the media that PTI’s Qureshi was authorised for the negotiations.
“In what capacity was the Chairman Senate contacted?” Justice Bandial asked, noting that Sanjarani was neither the representative of the government nor the opposition. “If the government was serious about negotiations, it would have made efforts itself.
“The court can’t force the government to hold negotiations,” the top judge remarked, stressing that the court only wanted implementation of the Constitution so that a way could be found out of the current crisis.
“We don’t need any explanations, give us a solution,” he said, highlighting that it would take Sanjarani’s committee time to initiate the talks.
PPP lawyer Farooq H. Naek said that all the coalition parties had agreed on holding talks with the PTI and Senate was the only forum where all the political parties were present.
He added that the Senate chairman was playing the role of a facilitator and negotiations would only be held by the political parties.
PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi came on rostrum and said that the court had provided the political leaders with a chance for consensus during the previous hearing.
“But the Pakistan Democratic Movement has still not reached a consensus regarding the talks,” he claimed, highlighting that the PTI had taken the court’s order seriously.
Qureshi revealed that no one had reached out to the PTI as yet. “Imran Khan had named me, Fawad Chaudhry and Ali Zafar for the talks,” he said. “But to date, no one has approached me.”
The PTI leader went on to say that the Senate chairman called him yesterday regarding the committee for political dialogue. “I asked him where the advisory given by the SC was … the Senate committee is just a delaying tactic.”
The former foreign minister also said that if the government was “serious”, PTI was ready for negotiations “right now”. But at the same time, he claimed that the government had decided to violate the Constitution and the court orders.
AGP Awan assured the court that efforts were being made to hold the first meeting, between the PTI and the government, today.
