The Supreme Court of Pakistan gave the federal government a chance to ‘remedy’ its act of not providing funds for elections by giving it another deadline on Wednesday. The court has now ordered that the Rs21 billion required for elections must be released by April 27.

In an order issued by a three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar, the court said it had not found replies by the federal government to be satisfactory.

“A disobedience and defiance of the orders of the Court can itself have serious consequences,” the order said.

First responding to the finance ministry’s reply that funds could not be released as parliament had rejected them, the court said it was not ‘satisfied’ with the reply. The court said that the bill not being passed could be taken as a sign of the prime minister having lost majority in the parliament.

“The Government of the day must be able to secure the passage of all financial measures that it submits before the National Assembly,” the order read.

The court also mentioned that it had ordered that money from the Federal Consolidated Fund could be released with ex post facto authorization, but the cabinet did not take an action it was authorized to take.

However, when told by the attorney general that the PM’s parliamentary support was indeed intact, the court said that the act of not giving funds could be rectified.

The court also set disposed of a petition by the Defence Ministry which said that the security environment was not conducive for elections.

The court also set aside a request by the Election Commission which sought elections throughout the country on October 8. The order added that the ECP’s request overlapped with the concerns mentioned in the defence ministry’s report and sought to reopen issues that the court had already settled in its previous judgement.

“It is impermissible to attempt to so reopen issues and questions that already stand finally decided.”

The hearing

The Supreme Court of Pakistan adjourned proceedings in Ministry of Defence’s request regarding elections across the country at the same time on Wednesday, and said that there would be ‘grave’ consequences if court’s orders on elections were not followed.

“How can the defence ministry ask for elections across the country at the same time?” the CJP asked.

The chief justice also said that the court has already announced its decision regarding elections on May 14 and cannot go back on it.

“We will only look for a way forward,” the CJP remarked, adding that the attorney general should communicate court instructions to the government.

The bench included Justice Munib AKhtar and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan.

“Can you guarantee things will be better on October 8?” the court asked the attorney general.

Chief Justice Umar Ata bandial also said that it seemed that the ministry of defence had presented its point of view on the basis of an estimate, and countries cannot be run on estimates.

The Defence Ministry had told the court that holding elections in stages across the country in stages would be impractical from a security point of view as a huge number of security personnel would have to be put on duty twice in the span of six months.

The Chief Justice also observed that the security situation had been much worse in 2008 and 2013 but elections had gone ahead anyway.

“Is there a unique threat this time?” the CJP asked.

Justice Bandial added that the DG ISI and Defence Secretary had come to the court had given him a ‘very good’ briefing on the security situation. But he added that he had asked the officials why the security concerns had not been presented during the hearings.

Politcal consensus could be way out

The court issued notices to all major political parties and asked that senior leadership from all parties should appear in court on Thursday.

The attorney general also asked the court to give political parties some time to achieve consensus.

The chief justice remarked that the court would enforce its decision regarding elections on May 14 if there was a political consensus.

Court asks government to review funding decision

The court also questioned why post-facto approval for the election funds had not been obtained and the matter had instead been taken to court.

Justice Munib Akhtar questioned if the government still commanded majority in the Parliament after its bill for the election funds had been defeated in the National Assembly.

“If the government was serious, was it really hard to get a supplementary grant passed?” Justice Munib remarked.

ECP’s report

A report by the Election Commission of Pakistan had told the court that staggered elections could lead to anarchy in the country.

“The election commission had given the date of October 8 keeping in view the facts on the ground,” said the ECP report pertaining to the release of Rs21 billion for polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa presented in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. “The election commission believes that if this path is not adopted, anarchy will spread in the country.”

Along with the ECP, the State Bank of Pakistan also submitted a report to the top court.

A three-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar in an April 4 verdict directed the government to provide Rs21 billion worth of funds to the ECP for holding polls in Punjab and KP by April 10.

But the government referred the matter to Parliament, which defied the court’s orders.

Later, the SC ordered the central bank to release the required funds. While some experts defended such orders, the government frowned at the chief justice of Pakistan’s directives to the SBP.

Replies were also submitted by the finance ministry and the state bank on how the court’s order had been carried out. The reply by the finance ministry also told the court how the matter had been approved by the cabinet for presentation in parliament where it had been rejected.

But many political experts wondered who would be next after the SBP as the non-availability of the security personnel was also an “issue” in delaying the election.

The available number of police personnel for Punjab elections was 81,050 while the requirement was 466,000, the report said and added that the police and other security agencies were engaged in operations.