God willing, elections will be held on February 8: Pakistan’s CJI

Islamabad: “God willing, elections will be held on February 8,” Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa said on Friday, a day after the election commission and Pakistan President Arif Alvi reached an agreement on the day of holding polls in the cash-strapped country.

Chief Justice Isa made these remarks after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday issued a notification to hold general elections on February 8 and submitted it to the Supreme Court.

Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja met President Alvi at the directives of the Supreme Court on Thursday and later the President’s Office issued a statement that the general elections would be held on February 8. The development came hours after the election commission’s lawyer told the apex court that elections would be held on February 11.

On Friday, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan submitted ECP’s election notification to the three-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan.

The three-judge bench was hearing the pleas moved by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party among others.

Chief Justice Isa said the people of Pakistan deserved elections and expressed hope that all the institutions would play their constitutional roles in holding polls and urged the ECP to issue the election schedule after completing the preparations.

“God willing, elections will be held on February 8,” Justice Isa was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.

He went on to say that the matter between the ECP and the president was “unnecessarily brought to court”.

The top judge also noted that the country was put through anxiety by not giving an election date. “There were also fears that elections won’t take place at all,” he said.

“According to the law and Constitution, the Supreme Court has no role in setting a date for the election,” the CJP said, and, adding that it was surprising that the president had suggested taking guidance on the matter from the court, he said, “The president could have taken guidance from Article 186 of the Constitution.”

“It is now time that we not just follow the Constitution but also look at the country’s constitutional history,” the Dawn said quoting Justice Isa, who lamented that “Pakistan’s institutions and people had to pay for the consequences when the Constitution was violated.”

The issue of the election date had been dragging on for weeks after the dissolution of the National Assembly on August 9, as polls should be held within 90 days but the ECP delayed it in order to finalise the electoral districts following the new census held earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the apex court also barred media channels from running news that could create doubt regarding polls and said any such news would also be a violation of the Constitution and instructed the Attorney General to ensure Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), the media watchdog, take action against such media houses.

“Let there be no misconception that we have given the date of the elections,” CJP Isa reiterated and disposed of the petitions.

The notification of the election date is expected to end the uncertainty in the country as political parties will now move into election mode.

The ECP announcement coincided with the review talks between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the release of USD 710 million second tranche of a USD 3 billion loan to the cash-strapped country to stabilise its debt-ridden economy.

The clarity on the election date will strengthen the hands of the Ministry of Finance during the negotiations which started on Thursday, although the IMF has not explicitly attached any such condition.