Our Correspondent
Islamabad
The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday refused to entertain a constitutional petition which sought to hold a referendum regarding the establishment of a presidential form of government in Pakistan.
The petition was filed by Tahir Aziz Khan, chairman of the political party Hum Awam Pakistan, under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution. One of the main objectives of the lesser-known political party is to establish a presidential form of government in the country.
The registrar’s office, objected that the petitioner had not pointed out the question of public importance in this case.
“The petitioner did not approach any other forum available to him under the law for the same relief,” SC office further said. “Petitioner did not justify invoking of extraordinary jurisdiction of this court under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution”
Earlier, the petitioner sought direction from the apex court to the prime minister of Pakistan to hold a referendum, as provided under the Clause 6 of the Article 48 of the Constitution to determine whether the people of Pakistan, for their welfare and wellbeing, want a presidential form of government or not.
The petition states that it is apparent from the print, electronic and social media that an overwhelming majority of the people are fed up with the parliamentary form of government and want to adopt the presidential form of government.
It is stated that currently, Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world with an estimated population of 212 million people. According to the United Nations’ observations, this population is estimated to reach 403 million by 2050, the petition added.
Pakistan has also one of the world’s largest youth population, as 64 per cent of the Pakistanis are now under the age of 30. “Pakistan is ranked as 122nd out of 190 countries in the world in the opinion of the World Health Organisation’s performance report in terms of quality and accessibility of health care.”
