ISLAMABAD – A judge of the country’s top court called suo motu notice on Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s elections rejected by 4-3, sparking new debate in the country which is going toward another constitutional crisis.
In the detailed note, Justice Athar Minallah throws weight behind dissenting notes of Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Jamal Khan Mandokhail who earlier recused themselves from hearing the case.
Soon after the detailed ruling was issued, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb holds a presser and requested the Chief Justice of Pakistan to resign, maintaining that the head of the institution had become controversial.
Aurangzeb said Justice Minallah’s dissenting note raised questions on court proceedings, stressing that a verdict is not valid if it has been rejected by a majority. The minority decision to conduct elections in 90 days was ‘imposed’ on the federal government, she added, and further mentioned that ‘it was not the issue of elections but judicial facilitation’.
PML-N stalwart made these remarks days after the daughter of party supremo Maryam Nawaz called on CJP Bandial to step down.
The recent development comes on the heels of the National Assembly’s resolution that dismissed the three-member Supreme Court bench’s verdict on the Punjab elections.
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