Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial said that the parliament had ‘deliberately’ been kept empty and the legislations being passed were now being seen as questionable.

He made the remarks while hearing a petition filed by PTI Chairman Imran Khan challenging amendments made to the NAB law.

The CJ also questioned why the PTI was trying to return to the parliament after having quit it in the first place. He also said that the Election Commission had said it the speaker ruling case that it would be ready to conduct elections in November 2022.

He said that the government has been in place for eight months but the country is in the grip of a political crisis. All problems will be best solved through a decision of the people, he added.

The government’s counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan said that the court should exercise caution while treating a matter of parliamentary legislation under Article 184(3) of the constitution. The article gives the courts power to question anything if it considers it to be a matter of ‘public importance with reference to the enforcement of any of the Fundamental Rights’.

However, the chief justice said that the present case was a different matter because the Imran Khan, head of a major political party, had approached the court to challenge the legislation.