Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Umar Atta Bandial is facing severe criticism from the parties in the ruling coalition after the verdict in the election delay case. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) supremo Nawaz Sharif also jumped on the bandwagon, demanding the top judge’s “immediate resignation”.
A few hours after Supreme Court Justice Athar Minullah issued his detailed note on the process of automatic notices for delay in holding elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb demanded CJP Bandial to resign.
On Twitter, the three-time former prime minister – who has been living in London in self-imposed exile since 2019 – said: “Chief Justice should resign rather than cause further destruction.”
Criticizing the Chief Justice, Nawaz Sharif said that courts take the nation out of crisis, adding that “they do not push into crisis”.
The former prime minister also accused the chief justice of misusing his powers, saying the chief justice “imposed a minority decision on a majority decision”.
The PML-N supremo also accused the top judge of “advancing the agenda of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)”. He further said that the Chief Justice insulted his position and the Constitution.
Maryam Nawaz said that the Chief Justice has now become controversial, so the Chief Justice should resign.
The crisis continues as the demand comes a day after the National Assembly passed a resolution rejecting the “minority” verdict of a three-judge Supreme Court bench on Punjab elections and placed it on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his cabinet. He was bound not to implement this decision.
Justice Minullah was among the judges who on the advice of the Supreme Court bench hearing the Ghulam Mehmood Dogar case rejected the Chief Justice’s suo motu notice to delay elections in KP and Punjab. .
Chief Justice Bandial constituted a nine-member bench to hear the Spontaneous Notice case. However, two of the nine judges recused themselves from the case, while four others – Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Jamal Khan Mandukhel, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Manullah – dismissed the case.
In the note, Justice Minullah reiterated that the “manner and manner” in which the proceedings were initiated had “unnecessarily” exposed the court to political controversy.
In addition to eroding public trust, a suo moto assumption “may raise concerns in the mind of an informed outside observer,” he explained, adding that it would also affect the rights of litigants whose cases are under investigation. are pending.
The Information Minister also said that when the court proceedings become controversial and the judges of the Supreme Court also refused to accept the decision, then how will the people accept the decision.
Referring to the judge, Maryam said that Justice Minullah neither separated himself from the bench nor protected himself. “This is not a matter of elections but of ‘bench fixing’,” he added.
Maryam also said that Justice Minullah’s note is a question mark.
Without naming PTI Chairman Imran Khan, the Information Minister said that it is not acceptable to him when the judiciary gives facility to a violator of the constitution.
