Asif for ‘full-house committee’ to probe constitutional violations till date
Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
Lawmakers in Lower House of parliament on Wednesday once again strongly protested against the Supreme Court’s orders to the National Assembly for handing over the record of proceedings related to a bill.
The apex court has sought the house’s proceedings regarding the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, which seeks to regulate the powers of the chief justice and devolve them to a committee.
In response to the members’ protests, the NA speaker told the National Assembly that he would not “compromise” on the supremacy of parliament. “There should be no doubt that the house is supreme when it comes to the country’s matters.”
The members voiced concerns against the top court’s orders a day earlier as well and in an apparent tit-for-tat move, approved the formation of a committee to probe the alleged leak of a conversation between former CJP Saqib Nisar’s son and another person, where the former purportedly demanded Rs12 million for a party ticket in the Punjab Assembly elections.
Reiterating his proposal to hold the judiciary accountable, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Wednesday a resolution must be passed to form a full-house committee to investigate constitutional violations [committed by the judiciary] from Justice Munir till date.
His statement comes on the second successive day as the Supreme Court had ordered NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to furnish it with the record of parliamentary proceedings on the bill clipping CJP’s powers. The Speaker office later turned down the request.
