Pakistan government erupts in anger as CJP decides date of Punjab polls

Pakistan's National Assembly and the federal cabinet remained adamant on not complying with the Supreme Court ruling that decided to conduct Punjab polls on May 14, with Premier Shehbaz Sharif labelling the verdict a “murder of justice." According to Dawn, lawmakers in the lower house of parliament urged Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial to “rethink and constitute a full court bench."

Addressing the National Assembly, PM Shehbaz Sharif said that the apex court's decision is equivalent to the "judicial murder" of former President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He stated that Bhutto's "murder took place on April 4, 1979, and on the same date, the unfortunate episode was repeated” through the polls ruling.

“Two decisions were made today, murder of Bhutto and murder of justice, which is highly regrettable,” Sharif said at the National Assembly session. 

Following the chaos, the apex executive body directed the legal team to devise ways of revoking the ruling. “The prime minister has directed me and the attorney general to give a legal opinion on the Supreme Court’s decision that has been made in such a way that it negated the judicial system of the country,” Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said. 

Tarar added that the ruling on the Punjab elections can further deteriorate the already-existing crises in Pakistan. “We have reservations about the decision and our legal team will decide about the future course of action after consultations," he said, adding that the Sharif government always wanted to have free and unbiased elections.

Pak lawmakers call for polls to be held simultaneously

Furthermore, the minister cited Article 224, which says that general elections in the country must be held simultaneously at the same time, and can only be pushed to a later date in case of unprecedented circumstances, as per Article 254. Several law ministers also slammed the CJP for not creating a full bench and accused the judiciary of siding with PTI chief Imran Khan.

“You [the CJP] could have proved your impartiality with just one decision. But you preferred to get your name included in the list of lovers of Imran and PTI,” said Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) leader Asad Mehmood as members of the assembly thumped in unison.