Justice (retired) Maqbool Baqar said that he ‘good hopes’ about the a free and fair election being conducted in Sindh and that ‘positive efforts’ were being made.Sindh Caretaker CM Baqar said that he was unaware of the correspondence that had taken place between the president and the chief election commissioner over the fixing of the election date. However, he added that on the surface it seemed that the responsibility lay with the ECP.
He said that it is ‘possible’ that the elections could take place within 90 days but it would be upto the ECP to decide. He also added that the matter was currently infront of the Supreme Court so it would be best to let them decide. Baqar added that the SC had done well by ‘lowering its posture’ by letting the matter of the Toshakhana appeal play out in the Islamabad High Court before making a final decision.
Asked if the consitution itself seemed to be running out of answers in the present scenario, Baqar said that the constitution had been entangled by a number of different interpretations. He said that the constitutional scheme extensively dealt with all possibiliteis that could arise.
On the divisions inside the top court, Baqar said it was now ‘too late’ to heal them. He added that there were numerous judges in the court who understood how to enforce the constitution. He said that there were many who had tried to deviate from the constitution and efforts had been made to set them right by the bar, the court and by their own colleagues.
However, he added that people were ultimately free to decide the course of their actions and the damage that could have been done due to the divisions was already done. He said that there was a possibility of more damage being done in the next few days. Baqar said that the report prepared in the Fatima case was beyond doubts since it was prepared through ‘positive efforts’ and the people who had prepared had been inducted after considering their integrity. He also said he had
Baqar said that it was undoubtedly the job of the caretaker government to ensure that protests against electricity prices in the country do not get out of hand. He added that if the protests were peacful, they will be provided security. He said that he also planned to meet the director of K-Electric to solve the issue.
