The coalition government and allies’ decision to boycott the Supreme Court proceedings was clearly a contempt of court, Justice (retd) Nasira Iqbal said while commenting on the case on the Punjab CM election. She added that no party in a case has the right to call for his choice of judge.

“The result is always in anyone’s favour whenever there is a dispute,” she told Aaj News. The jurist had joined the panel of experts to comment on the prevailing case, which has hooked the political leadership of the country to the federal capital since Monday.

A three-member bench led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial resumed its hearing today (Tuesday) on PML-Q leader Pervaiz Elahi’s petition challenging the July 22 ruling of Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mohmmad Mazari in the provincial chief minister election.

The apex court after a day-long hearing rejected on Monday the coalition government’s request to form a full court bench on petitions, prompting the latter to boycott the court’s proceedings.

Nasira, a jurist and law professor, served as the Lahore High Court judge from 1994 to 2002.

She explained that there are always two parties in the case and another party in the case always cries foul mouth upon losing the case. “Their [coalition government and allies] announcement to boycott [SC proceedings] is clearly contempt of court,” she said, “no party, which appears in the court, has the right to say that they want to have [judge] of their own choice.”

The jurist elaborated that the apex court had clearly stated that its vacation during this period of time. “Everyone knows that,” irked Nasira said and criticised the coalition government’s demand. She added that the video link appearance of judges was not possible as some of them were out of the country and due to time difference it was not possible.

“It was evident that this case could not be heard before September,” she said, “I want to say that the most distracting pillar of our state is media.”

The retired justice was of the view that the media’s role was to show a positive side to the people and provide them awareness. She added that political parties should resolve their quarrels themselves and approach the election tribunal for resolving issues.

“The only work is to tarnish the judiciary’s reputation. It is the only institution where people come seeking justice,” Nasira said, adding that other judges were dealing with other cases.

“What is the difference between three and five judges?” the jurist said, adding that it was the prerogative of the chief justice to decide the panel. She was irked by the proceedings of case while so many litigations were pending before the august house. “It wastes time.”

The jurist lamented the way the nation was heading while highlighting the plight of the 220 million population of the country. “Many people are deprived of one-time meal,” she said.

She questioned whether the nation learned something over the past 75 years or not. Nasira bemoaned the democratic practices in the country while speaking about the horse-trading in the assembly.

Nasira blamed the electronic media for such trends.

The jurist took an apparent jibe at JUI-F head Maulana Fazlur Rehman for demanding a full court bench while having no link to the case. “A Khyber Pakhtunkhwa party leader, who is a Maulana and has no link to Punjab… such kind of people are giving their rights who have no link to the case.”