Pakistan Bar Council Chairman Hasan Raza Pasha says he sees little chance of the Supreme Court judgment on holding election in Punjab on May 14 being implemented.

“That is why the bar council spoke of a full bench before and during the proceedings. We don’t understand why PTI friends kept misrepresenting it. It was for their good too,” Pasha said speaking on Aaj News show “Faisla Aap Ka.”

Hasan Raza Pasha said that the question of holding elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was “a political case, [and] a constitutional case.” The bar council saw beforehand that there would be a mess and today it is happening, he said.

A new court battle?

The Pakistan Bar Council chairman said that after 10 days the issue will be taken back to the Supreme Court once again. “The country’s leadership will come there. The lawyers will come and there will be legal discussions and arguments,” he said referring to the possibility that the federal government may challenge the judgement once the Supreme Court of Pakistan Practices and Procedures law takes effect after April 20.

Hasan Raza Pasha said that the law passed by the parliament is now with the president after approval from the National Assembly and Senate.

The law was passed by the Parliament last week, but it needs to be signed by President Arif Alvi, who has the authority to block it for a maximum of 25 days.

Pasha said if Imran Khan had requested a full court instead of the government and if his demand were repeatedly rejected, then what option did he have?

When someone is repeatedly knocking on the door of justice and is not listened to, what will he do, he will just set himself on fire, he said.

However, others would not subscribe to this view.

Why full bench was not required

Shoaib Shaheen, a legal expert, also spoke on the show and said that no one had challenged the March 1 judgment which originally ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan to give a date for elections in Punjab and KP.

“The judgement was also implemented. [But afterwards,] the Election Commission unilaterally withdrew its entire schedule and set a date of October 8, six months later. A new constitutional petition came up on this.”

Shaheen said there were three legal questions before the SC bench that heard the PTI petition for the implementation of March 1 judgement.

He said that the first question was whether the Election Commission has the authority to give the date itself or change the date. On this not a single lawyer said that the ECP has the power to do so, neither according to the constitution nor according to the Election Commission Act, said Shaheen.

The second question was whether elections are possible in ninety days? Everyone said that they could not be held in 90 days.

The third point was that the explanation given by the Election Commission has any legal grounds. After the court was briefed by the Secretaries of defense and finance, the government did not have a single justification for delaying elections.

In response to the question about constituting of a full court to decide the issue as demanded by the government, Shaheen said that a full court is required when a provision of the constitution is to be interpreted. This was a dispute of facts on which a three-judge bench was sufficient, he said.

Will the government fight back?

Minister of State for Energy Senator Mossadik Malik was also on the show and the host, Asma Shirazi, asked him whether the government was going to fight the judgment.

“If you look at the decisions of the parliament and the cabinet, a crisis is brewing,” he said.

The minister said that the provision in the constitution (to hold election within 90 days) is not only for Punjab. “It is also for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa a part of Sweden? Or is it in Finland?” he said.

The Supreme Court in its April 4 judgment did not order holding election in KP where the provincial assembly was dissolved shortly after the dissolution of the Punjab assembly. The court said it will take up the matter on a later date.

Malik sarcastically said, “In Punjab, we decided on holding election in 90 days on suo motu, and the other province? Hey, leave it, man, what to talk about the other province.”

He said that there is a lack of legitimacy in this decision. “No one trusts a decision that lacks legitimacy. Court decisions should come out as legitimate decisions.”