ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial proposed a salary cut for himself and other judges on Tuesday to fund and assist with the vital task of holding elections nationwide.
His remarks came after the Supreme Court resumed hearing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) petition challenging the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to postpone general elections to the Punjab Assembly till 8 October.
A five-member larger bench — comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, and Justice Mandokhail — is hearing the case.
In a surprise move on 22 March, the electoral body postponed elections for more than five months, citing the deteriorating security situation and the unavailability of security personnel and finances. Subsequently, the PTI challenged its order in the apex court.
At the outset of the hearing on Tuesday, Chief Justice Bandial remarked that the court did not want to stretch the matter; the question in front of it is simple, that is, whether can the date of the polls be extended or not.
He said that the matter would be over if the ECP had the authority to extend the elections.
The top judge said that the Rule of law is essential for democracy; without it, a democracy cannot function.
He added that issues would increase if the political temperature stays so high.
Justice Akhtar said that the electoral body should have approached the court if polls were not possible.
He said that the court could be approached for polls on the same day if an assembly has been disbanded during the schedule of another assembly.
He said that the ECP has no authority to issue an order itself. If the commission can delay elections for six months, it can do the same for two years too.
Justice Mandokhail said here that the Constitution was silent when it came to the question of deciding who had the authority to delay the elections. Should the legislature not amend the Constitution, he asked rhetorically, to which another judge Justice Akhtar said that if the legislature brought amendments, everything would be sorted.
Justice Ahsan also inquired how it could be decided that today’s problems would not be there on 8 October as well.
Judge’s remarks on taxes
Justice Akhtar remarked that the federal government says that a 500 billion rupees tax was collected till February; it is surprising that out of 500 billion rupees, 20 billion rupees couldn’t be given for polls.
The top judge said that the security personnel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa conducted the most operations. He revealed that sixty-one operations were in Punjab, 367 operations in Sindh, and 1,245 operations were conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Top judge on security situation
CJP noted that the situation in Punjab is different from that in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Giving the example of Turkiye, the judge said that elections were being held in all the areas in Turkiye that were not struck by the earthquake.
He said that the elections could only be postponed if an emergency was imposed in the country.
On one point, Justice Ahsan pointed out that it was just a matter of priorities. If 10 billion rupees can be spent on laptops, why cannot 20 billion rupees be spent on elections, he asked.
On the matter of the unavailability of security personnel to guard the electoral process in the country, Justice Akhtar asked how armed forces can refuse to perform poll duty.
The top judge said that the problem of terrorism goes back to the 90s, but were polls not held even then? Several politicians lost their lives; the biggest tragedy was the killing of the PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto. But despite all this, polls were held, he pointed out.
