ISLAMABAD: Amid the beat of national songs punctuated with announcements which were quite discernable inside the Courtroom No 1, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the parties holding sit-ins on the Constitution Avenue to clear the road.

“The test will be when we come to the Supreme Court from the Judges Enclave through the Constitution Avenue on Tuesday,” observed Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk who heads a five-judge bench hearing a set of petitions against the sit-ins.

He ordered that a joint report in this regard be submitted on Tuesday for perusal of judges in their chambers. It will be taken up when the court resumes the hearing on Wednesday.

The court asked the counsel for the two protesting parties – Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) — to meet Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt to find a way out of the problem and ensure free movement on the Constitution Avenue.

Judge wonders whether baton-wielding PAT workers have come for a peaceful march

“You have to clear the avenue by shifting your protest to some appropriate place,” Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, a member of the bench, said. He added that he wondered whether the baton-wielding PAT workers had come to the avenue for a peaceful march.

For the past many days, judges, including the chief justice, have to take a long detour to reach the Supreme Court. A number of cases have also been adjourned because neither the counsel nor the litigants could reach the court.

On complaints about placement of containers on different arteries of the federal capital by the government to prevent the entry of protesters into the arena, the court said it would move step by step.

The attorney general said the government could consider providing a space preferably inside the Sports Complex and then clearing all roadblocks by removing containers.

The court categorically stated that it was not concerned about the oft-repeated notion of a third umpire when Supreme Court Bar Association President Kamran Murtaza, one of the petitioners, referred to the statement of PTI chief Imran Khan.

Justice Saqib Nisar said that both the parties had made a commitment in their replies that they would abide by the Constitution and that the cricket terminology might have been used in a lighter vein.

He said that in its July 31, 2009 judgment which declared the Nov 3, 2007 emergency unconstitutional, the apex court had already buried the doctrine of necessity, adding that the court would intervene whenever someone interfered in the right of others. He regretted that the functioning of the Election Commission of Pakistan and the Federal Shariat Court had been obstructed badly.

Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja observed that the containers could be removed if the sit-in was shifted to some other place. He said the judges had been coming to the Supreme Court for the past two years by crossing police pickets and barriers because the executive was convinced about a threat to the red zone that housed important government offices.

“We cannot interfere into the domain of the executive if they have credible information about the threat of terrorism,” Justice Khawaja said. He regretted the postponement of Sri Lankan president’s scheduled visit because of the continuing sit-in.

“Responsibility is the first hallmark of any person,” he said, adding that the marchers should protest in accordance with the Constitution.

Blocking roads might happen in Canada, he said, referring to the Canadian nationality of Dr Tahirul Qadri. Justice Khawaja cited an earlier case of Dr Qadri on electoral reforms during which the oath taken by him pledging allegiance not only to Queen Elizabeth but also her successors had been mentioned.

The chief justice also showed photographs which had appeared in the print media showing clothes hanging on the railings of the Supreme Court and mentioned the complaints by the court staff and lawyers of being searched by PAT workers and asked to prove their identity.

Advocate Hamid Khan, representing the PTI, said its workers were neither demanding identity from people nor blocking the Constitution Avenue. According to him, the sit-in was being held on the Parade Avenue.

Ali Zafar, the counsel for the PAT, assured the court that the party workers would not obstruct people going to their offices.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2014