Daily Times

The schism between elected lawmakers and the top judiciary appeared to grow larger as the Parliament on Monday unanimously adopted a motion seeking a judicial reference against Chief Justice (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, while the defence minister called for a parliamentary probe into the judiciary’s ‘biased conduct’. The house unanimously adopted the motion seeking formation of a special committee to file a reference against the CJP in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) for his misconduct and deviating from oath. The motion, which was moved by Dr Shazia Sobia, was adopted by the House. The members included Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha, Khursheed Junejo, Shehnaz Baloch, and Salahuddin Ayubi.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif demanded the formation of a parliamentary committee to investigate the judiciary’s undue support to a specific person – former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan – as well as sending a reference to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) under Article 209 of the Constitution on the matter. speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, the defence minister said that the time has come for Parliament to play its constitutional role in this situation. “In the 75-year history of the country’s judiciary, there had been incidents that have had a profound impact on the country, but recently a group in the judiciary started supporting a political group,” he said.

Asif said that political support could be seen from the current decisions of the judiciary, adding that the decision of 4-3 has no constitutional value, because the only purpose of judiciary is to give relief to Imran Khan. “The time has come for Parliament to send a reference of misconduct to the Supreme Judicial Council, under the authority and law given to it by the Constitution,” Asif stressed. He lamented that the judiciary changed the structure of the Constitution by rewriting 63-A to protect the interests of a specific person.

Talking about the attacks on the Corps Commander’s house in Lahore, a Rangers post in Karachi, the Army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi and the PAF Base at Mianwali, he said that protection was being provided to those who desecrate the memorials of martyrs. “The entire nation is indebted to its martyrs because they have sacrificed their lives for our tomorrow.” He said that PTI’s violent supporters on the direction of their leadership had attacked Quaid-e-Azam’s house, which was a shameful act as the building was a national heritage of the country.

He said that India provided vast coverage of the incident on its mainstream media. He questioned why the judiciary does not understand these incidents.