Pak Defence Minister Asif hits out at SC, demands accountability for 'illegal' actions

Widening the rift between Pakistan's incumbent government and the Supreme Court, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif demanded on Sunday that the apex institution must be held accountable for all the unlawful and "unconstitutional" acts it has committed in the past seven decades. 

Speaking to reporters in London, United Kingdom, the minister said: “All the unconstitutional and illegal actions taken in the past 75 years, especially by the judiciary, should be held accountable.” He made the statement in response to a question about Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif who has been living in the English capital since 2019 on the grounds of medical issues. 

Sharif, the former prime minister of Pakistan, stepped down from the top post after he was disqualified from holding public office by the Supreme Court in a ruling on the Panama Papers case. He was disqualified after a five-member bench chaired by then-chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar unanimously voted on the decision, citing his failure to reveal his non-withdrawn receivables constituting assets from UAE-based Capital FZE in his nomination papers for the 2013 polls. The erstwhile PM's actions were deemed as "not honest and truthful" by the court, Geo News reported.

Khawaja Asif provides 'best solution' to the tussle 

Asif also said during the conversation with reporters on Sunday that he was in London to meet the PML-N supremo. When asked about the bold address he delivered in the National Assembly on May 2, he said that he felt it was his responsibility to defend the parliament.

“The best solution to the crisis is that all the institutions should work within the ambit of the Constitution,” the minister said. Lately, Pakistan's legislature and judiciary have locked horns after the latter said that the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to delay the Punjab Assembly elections was unconstitutional. It then announced May 14 as the revised date.

Meanwhile, in Karachi, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) emerged victorious in six out of 11 Union Councils (UCs) in the local government (LG) bypolls as Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) secured four seats. In the UC-2 Bihar Colony, PPP’s Abdul Qadir won after getting 3,243 votes. On the other hand, UC-2 Korangi saw the party's Muhammad Israr Khan receiving 2,647 votes.