Rana Sanaullah, the interior minister, threw down the gauntlet on Wednesday and said that any ban on his or other ministers’ entry into Punjab would lead to governor rule in the country’s most powerful province.

“Ban on my entry in Punjab will be enough for governor rule in Punjab,” he said while addressing a press conference, which focused on Supreme Court’s Tuesday decision, in Islamabad.

The interior minister’s statement came in response to reporters’ query over the new Punjab government’s apparent plans to impose an embargo on a few federal ministers including Rana Sanaullah in an effort to pressurise the federal government to call early elections.

A three-member bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial annulled on Tuesday the ruling of Dost Muhammad Mazari, the Punjab Assembly deputy speaker, over rejecting 10 votes of PML-Q MPAs and ordered the Punjab governor to administer the oath of office to PML-Q’s Pervez Elahi. Later, President Arif Alvi in a midnight ceremony administered the oath of office to Parvez at President’s House, Islamabad as Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman excused himself from administering the oath of office to the PML-Q leader.

Sanaullah lamented the Supreme Court’s decision and used the term “bench fixing” that was used by his party leader Maryam Nawaz at a press conference on Monday.

He further bemoaned the language used by SC judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa in a letter to the Judicial Commission of Pakistan. “Such things [as described in the letter] are really deplorable and if this is true this is a moment of reflection for the nation as to where we are heading?”

‘Retrospective effect’

He said the court’s decision to not count the MPs’ vote was an effort to give it retrospective effect. “Never such a thing has happened as a result 25 votes were minus.”

He defended his argument by quoting the ECP’s decision that the parliamentarians were de-seated after PTI leader Asad Umar’s letter that said such members violated the party’s direction.

Sanaullah said the same course was taken in the Punjab CM runoff election by the issuance of a letter from the party head. “This has led to further complication and destabilise the political and economical situation. The dollar will continue to jump amidst this.”

“Economy and political instability will remain when the court takes decisions against political stability,” Sanaullah said.

He was of the view that an independent and transparent judiciary was important for a society’s development. “There was never a time when the court took unbiased decisions,” he said in response to a query and called for society’s role in averting such an apparent trend.

‘Ulema talks with Taliban’

“Ulema who are in Kabul [for talks with the banned TTP] have not gone on a government level. But, this is in the government’s knowledge and if someone talks and if it leads to peace so such efforts should not be stopped or opposed,” he said in response to a query.

Court’s prerogative should be regulated

He was of the view that the court’s prerogative should be regulated as there was not any deficiency. He linked his comment to the formation of the bench while hearing the case and suo motu notice.

“This will further improve the judiciary’s role,” Sanaullah said. He added that judges’ consultation would help end “bench fixing”, reiterating his demand for regulating the powers.

The minister maintained that the provincial governments in Sindh and Balochistan were governed by coalition parties, not any single.

“The federal government is a coalition government,” Sanaullah said.

“Pakistan has been beneficial after the success of the vote of no-confidence with the support of political parties, allies, and ‘advice of some patriotic citizens’,” he said, “The country will default if you had handed over it to them [PTI].”

He warned that the government would stop the PTI if the latter turned to march towards Islamabad.

“Yes, definitely he [Nawaz Sharif] will return at all cost and lead the next election on behalf of PML-N,” Sanaullah said in reply to a query.