Lawmakers in the National Assembly on Tuesday urged Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to reject the Supreme Court’s demand for the record of parliamentary proceedings ahead of the enactment of a bill curtailing the suo motu powers of the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP), vowing that Parliament will “not surrender.”
An eight-member bench of the apex court, earlier in the day, sought the parliamentary record while hearing petitions against the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, the implementation of which the court had suspended before it was even enacted. During Tuesday’s hearing, the CJP said the judges wished to understand the reasoning for the legislation and sought the record to deliberate on the debates that had led to it.
Referring to the court’s order, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif lashed out at the judiciary, noting that all parliamentary proceedings were part of the public record and broadcast live. “Enough is enough. If they want a war, then there will be a war. The Parliament will not surrender,” he said, while urging the speaker to write to the CJP asking for a record of the court’s proceedings regarding the law in return. He also said the court must explain how judges who had earlier recused themselves from hearing a case were included in a bench hearing the same.
Noting that the court had repeatedly directed politicians to conduct dialogue, the minister lamented that 15 judges appeared unable to sit together. “Conduct dialogue yourself first,” he said, adding that the “facilitation” that had brought the PTI to power in 2018 continued to this day. Maintaining that Parliament would not “sacrifice” another prime minister, he recalled that the courts had executed former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and disqualified Yousuf Raza Gilani and Nawaz Sharif.
Calling on the speaker to form a special committee to probe the execution of Bhutto and the disqualification of elected prime ministers, he stressed that Parliament would no longer allow any extra-constitutional moves or surrender its supremacy and authority. He also questioned the perks and privileges accorded to judges for life, noting that lawmakers receiving Rs. 168,000 in salary were continually asked for accountability, while there was no one to hold the judges accountable. He said a special parliamentary committee should be formed to examine and review all controversial decisions taken by the apex court since 1947.
Referring to Articles 66 and 69 of the Constitution, Public Accounts Committee Chairman Noor Alam Khan urged the speaker to not provide the record to the court. He said no one—lawmaker or even staff—could be summoned by any court with regard to parliamentary proceedings. “We will provide you the record of the proceedings but only after you give us your own proceedings,” he said, adding that the court should justify its budget, the “plots” given to senior judges, and the bulletproof cars used by them.
Lamenting that SC had previously stopped its registrar from appearing before the PAC in violation of the Constitution, he said he would call the apex court’s principal accounting officer to Parliament to respond to all answer of lawmakers. “If he doesn’t come, then I tell you that I will issue his arrest warrants and I want the whole Parliament to stand with me,” he said to desk-thumping by the members, who supported it almost unanimously.
The National Assembly subsequently approved a motion by JUIF’s Shahida Akhtar Ali authorizing the speaker to constitute a committee to probe the alleged leak of a conversation between a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and the son of former CJP Saqib Nisar. In the call, Nisar’s son can allegedly be heard demanding Rs. 12 million to secure a PTI ticket in the Punjab Assembly elections.