The Pakistan Parliament refuses to accept the Supreme Court verdict

The Pakistan Supreme Court, following Article 224(2) of the Pakistan Constitution, has fixed 14th May as the date for holding elections to the Punjab Provincial Assembly.

The Pakistan Parliament has today passed a resolution rejecting the Supreme Court verdict.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pakistan-parliament-rejects-top-court-order-hold-provincial-snap-polls-speaker-2023-04-06/

Is this resolution valid ? I submit it is not, and is totally void, and should be ignored by all authorities and persons in Pakistan.

The legal position in this connection was laid down by the US Supreme Court in its well known decision in Marbury vs Madison, 5 US 137, as far back as in 1803, and has been followed ever since.

In this decision Chief Justice Marshall, speaking for the Court, held that in the event of conflict between the Constitution and statutory laws passed by Congress ( the American Parliament ), the constitutional law must prevail, as the Constitution is the supreme law of the land..

 

Chief Justice Marshall said that denying the supremacy of the Constitution over Congress’s acts would mean that courts must close their eyes on the Constitution, and see only the law made by the legislature. He observed :

Those, then, who controvert the principle that the Constitution is to be considered as the paramount law are reduced to the necessity of maintaining that courts must close their eyes on the Constitution, and see only the law.

 

This doctrine would subvert the very foundation of all written Constitutions. It would declare that an act which, according to the Constitution is entirely void, is yet obligatory. It would declare that if the legislature does what is expressly forbidden by the Constitution, such act, notwithstanding the express prohibition, is in reality effectual. It would be giving to the legislature an omnipotence, while in the same breath it professes to restrict its powers. It is prescribing limits to the powers of the legislature, and yet declaring that those limits may be ignored at pleasure by the legislature “.

In what has become the most famous and frequently quoted line of his judgment, Marshall wrote:

‘ It is emphatically the province and duty of the Judicial Department to say what the law is ”.

 

Now coming to the verdict of the Pakistan Supreme Court, the Court only directed that a constitutional provision, Article 224(2) be followed. That provision states :

When the National Assembly or a Provincial Assembly is dissolved, a general election to the Assembly shall be held within a period of ninety days after the dissolution, and the results of the election shall be declared not later than fourteen days after the conclusion of the polls ”.

The Punjab Assembly had been dissolved on 18th January. Hence fresh elections had to be held by 18th April. Due to certain reasons they could not be held by that date, hence the Court directed that they be held on 14th May, instead of 8th October as fixed by the Election Commission of Pakistan. What exception can be taken to that ?

The PDM Govt knows it will be wiped out if elections are held, as Imran Khan is immensely popular in Pakistan ( as opinion polls disclose ), while the PDM leaders are regarded by the public to be a gang of thieves. Hence the PDM is adamant that early elections be not held as directed by the Supreme Court, and this is the real reason why the Pakistan Parliament, which they control, passed the aforesaid resolution.

But this resolution rejects the decision of the Court, which as said before, was only in accordance with Article 224(2) of the Constitution. This is like a team in a football match saying that it does not accept the decision of the referee awarding a penalty, or the decision of the linesman holding a player offside. How then can the match be played ? It is like a child playing a chess game throwing the chess board and the pieces away when he finds he is losing.

If court decisions are not accepted it will result in chaos, jungle raj, and even civil war. The resolution of the Pakistan Parliament must therefore be treated as null and void.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Pakistani parliament is just beating about the bushes and striking it’s Head with walls that what is to do next for avoidance of General Election…..PDM especially N League doesn’t realizing that it’s 2023 not 1997 when they deceived the whole nation by beguiling and deception.

  2. Pakistani parliament is just beating about the bushes and striking it’s Head with walls that what is to do next for avoidance of General Election…..PDM especially N League is not realizing that it’s 2023 not 1997 when they deceived the whole nation by beguiling and deception.

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