Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is set to chair a meeting of leaders of the coalition government in Islamabad on Saturday (today) to “devise a future strategy for the government” as the country faces a judicial crisis on top of long-ongoing economic and political crises, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.
Chairing the meeting from Lahore via a video link, Shehbaz will discuss the “overall political situation of the country” while Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar will brief the members on legal issues, Radio Pakistan said.
The high-level meeting comes as the Supreme Court ponders the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)‘s deferral of elections in Punjab by more than five months. The court itself has been bogged down by internal drama of its own, as on Friday, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail recused himself from hearing the PTI’s plea against the delay, becoming the second judge to do so.
His withdrawal came a day after Justice Aminuddin Khan had recused himself from hearing the case.
Adding to a series of dissenting notes and recusals on a suo-motu case on the same matter, the happenings of the past two days left the PTI petition to three judges: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Muneeb Akhtar.
The government has been demanding that a full court bench be formed to hear the matter.
The meeting also follows PML-N supremo and former premier Nawaz Sharif’s rare press conference, who hit out at members of the superior judiciary — specifically CJP Bandial and ex-CJP Saqib Nisar — for what he called were “selective” benches for suo-motu notices.
Meanwhile, the same day, PTI Chairman Imran Khan tweeted the PML-N is trying to create a 1997-like situation when its workers attacked the Supreme Court to pressurise the then chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah hearing a contempt petition.
Notably, he also said he was ready to hold talks with parties that were ready to oppose the “conspiracy” against the Constitution and court.
