AFTER the National Assembly of Pakistan, the joint session of parliament also adopted a resolution, emphasizing the need for holding general elections of the National Assembly and all the four provincial assemblies simultaneously to strengthen the federation. The two identical resolutions were moved by Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Javed Abbasi and Senator Kamran Murtaza aimed at promoting political stability and fostering unity among the provinces. The resolutions emphasized the significance of appointing neutral caretaker set-ups to ensure impartiality and fairness during the elections.
The resolutions have been adopted by parliament at a time when the Supreme Court verdict in the case relating to elections for the Punjab Assembly requires the Government to implement the decision in a time-bound manner and a monitoring judge has also been appointed to ensure implementation. These and other resolutions passed by the lower house strengthen the position of the Government which believes the judgement needs to be reviewed by the full court of the apex court, a demand that the Chief Justice of Pakistan is not ready to accede to. As the joint session of parliament included members from the upper house – where federating units are equally represented – the adoption of the resolution becomes all the more significant and, therefore, needs to be taken due care of while deciding the future course of action. The joint session has raised a legitimate point which should be duly considered by the apex court. It pointed out that holding separate election in Punjab, the largest federating unit with over 50 per cent of the National Assembly seats, would inevitably impact the outcome of general elections to the National Assembly seats in Punjab. Therefore, it could potentially marginalize the smaller provinces’ role in the federation. The mechanism of caretaker set ups both at the centre and in the provinces after dissolution of assemblies has been devised to ensure transparency and fairness of the entire electoral exercise. Keeping aside the debate whether or not the caretakers remained neutral in the past in the true sense of the word, the concept is aimed at providing level playing fields to all parties and candidates participating in elections. How level playing field would be possible when the two provinces will have governments of the political parties winning in separate elections for Punjab and KP assemblies at the time of general elections. There is already a tendency of levelling charges of rigging in elections by the defeated side and separate elections would trigger an unending controversy de-legitimizing the credibility of elections for the National Assembly. In a related development, the Government has also referred the issue of release of funds worth Rs 21 billion to the Election Commission for holding elections for the Punjab Assembly to the National Assembly. In fact, there is nothing wrong in seeking approval for the purpose from the National Assembly as the budget for the current financial year had no such provisions and a money bill has to be cleared by the Assembly. The bill presented in the house by the Finance Minister stands referred to the Standing Committee concerned for detailed examination and report but its final fate is known as the National Assembly had already adopted a resolution urging the Prime Minister and the Cabinet not to release the amount citing genuine reasons for such a course of action. The National Assembly is fully empowered to adopt or reject the bill and the Government would be bound to act accordingly. Interestingly, the decision of the house would not attract contempt of court charges as parliament and its members are constitutionally protected against such proceedings. Article-66(1) of the Constitution stipulates “no member shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), and no person shall be so liable in respect of the publication by or under the authority of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) of any report, paper, votes or proceedings.” Similarly, Article-69 of the Constitution bars courts from inquiring into proceedings of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament). In this backdrop, it is hoped that the Supreme Court would not take any hasty or harsh decision that could accentuate tension between the two important pillars of the state.
