The incumbent government, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, is confronting an internally divided Supreme Court mandating elections in Punjab on May 14 that lawmakers insist can only be held in October. In addition to efforts to ensure simultaneous elections nationwide through parliamentary resolutions, the government has also pushed through a bill curtailing the chief justice of Pakistan’s “unfettered” suo motu powers, which critics claim is tantamount to “interfering” in the judiciary’s domain. All this occurs as a deadline set by the apex court for the government to provide Rs. 21 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by April 10 has come and gone. The signal from Islamabad is clear: there is no money.
Any crisis is of confrontation between the legislature and judiciary would normally see little traction, but the internal fracturing of the Supreme Court owing to a fallout between CJP Umar Ata Bandial and senior-most judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa has laid fertile ground for the government to push through “reforms” that politicians tend to avoid in fear of judicial censure. The CJP now has to resolve an internal conflict that has gone public and raised significant questions about his impartiality, while also fending off the government’s sustained efforts to establish parliamentary sovereignty.
The ruling coalition’s actions make clear it does not wish to back down. In an address on the floor of the House, Sharif described the court’s ruling on elections as a “murder of justice,” while Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told reporters it would “further aggravate” political divisions that could have been prevented with the formation of a full court bench. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, likewise, has alleged that piecemeal polls would sow anarchy and chaos. Unfortunately, the biggest loser in this ongoing conflict is the people of Pakistan, who need decisive leadership to resolve multiple crises, including record inflation and a prevailing security crisis. By contrast, what the public sees is bickering among two of the state’s pillars that only makes clear Pakistan’s inability to wisely address the challenges before it.