Irfan Qadir suggests setting up ‘constitutional courts’

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to prime minister (SAPM) on Accountability Irfan Qadir on Monday suggested setting up ‘constitutional courts’ to hear political cases as such a practice is being followed across the globe, ARY News reported.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the special assistant said that constitutional experts including former judges, parliamentarians, media, business and other sectors should be included in the constitutional courts.

Irfan Qadir pointed out that the supremacy of law and constitution was of vital importance in the best interest of the country. “No one could be allowed to rewrite the constitution as it is a sacred document,” it added.

The PM’s aide also dispelled a notion that both the government and the Parliament were at odds with the top judiciary.

“There are some rumours that the government and the Parliament are against the Supreme Court, which are totally baseless and have no reality. The government has desire to see a strong judiciary,” the SAPM said.

He further said that the incumbent government desires to strengthen judiciary and the Supreme Court as “we have no friction against the courts, instead we are standing with the apex court.”

However, he said, being the mother of all the institutions, the Parliament was the supreme forum and implementation of its decisions was crucial to effectively run the country’s affairs.

As regards the appointment of judges in the Supreme Court, he said, judges should be appointed on the basis of “seniority-cum-fitness”.

He said all the institutions were bound to follow the Constitution. In the mature democracies across the globe, he said, all the institutions were working within their domains enshrined in their constitutions.

“We all are also bound to work according to the Constitution of our country and following the Constitution always enhances everyone’s respect,” he remarked.

Irfan Qadir said he had expressed his reservations when the apex court removed the government of Yousaf Raza Gillani.

He was of the view that the Parliament had the power to remove the prime ministers through a no-confidence motion, while no other institution had such power.

Recalling the lifetime disqualification of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in the Panama Papers case, he said it had not been written in the Constitution. Nawaz Sharif, he added, was also barred from heading the party which was against the law.

Irfan Qadir asserted that as per Article 184/3, the Supreme Court could take the so-moto notice, not the chief justice of the honourable court.

He said as per the Constitution, no one but the Election Commission of Pakistan was empowered to announce the date of elections.

The presser came after the Supreme Court (SC) indefinitely adjourned the hearing on the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) petition against the top court’s order of elections in Punjab on May 14.

April 4 verdict

The Supreme Court (SC) – in its April 4 order – declared the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to postpone elections to the Punjab Assembly till October 8 “unconstitutional” and fixed May 14 as a new date.

In a 14-page review petition filed by the ECP on May 3, the electoral body pleaded with the Supreme Court to suspend its May 14 decision until a verdict on the revision petition on the issue.

“SC should review its decision as the judiciary doesn’t have the authority to give the date of elections,” the ECP petition read.

“If the decision is not suspended, the election commission will suffer an irreparable loss,” the petitioner pleaded.