LAHORE: The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has said that the Supreme Court has thwarted the PDM government’s “conspiracy” to clip the powers of the chief justice.

Besides, the PTI termed the government’s decision to deny funds for elections in Punjab a “political gimmick”.

The party also strongly condemned the PDM government for rejecting the SC’s eight-member bench that took up for regular hearing the petitions challenging the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023.

All tiers of PTI’s leadership are condemning the government’s stance of not accepting the SC’s decisions, including those relating to holding of elections in Punjab.

On Thursday, PTI’s senior vice president Fawad Chaudhry pointed out that eight out of 15 judges, an ultimate majority of the apex court, had thwarted the government’s conspiracy to curtail the CJP’s powers.

Since the Supreme Court had accepted the main petition for regular hearing, Mr Chaudhry said, the bill had to be suspended and that was why the attorney general did not present any arguments on this point.

While describing it as a routine order, Mr Chaudhry expressed the hope that “the government would not make it an ego issue”.

Commenting on the proceedings of National Assembly and standing committees on finance of both houses, he said, “The standing committees’ denial of election funds is just a political gimmick”.

Citing Article 81, Mr Chaudhry said election expenses were charged directly and there was no justification for voting on them.

PTI president Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and central Punjab president Dr Yasmin Rashid chided Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his cabinet for adopting a “stubborn attitude” of not accepting the apex court’s decisions.

Questioning the ability of the government’s legal team, Mr Chaudhry in a tweet asked whether the great legal brains of Pakistan, sitting in the Supreme Court, did not know what was the constitutional position on the issue?

Meanwhile, PTI central Punjab general secretary Hammad Azhar posed a question in his tweet, “What does Rs20 billion mean in context of Pakistan?”

Mr Elahi said the legal fraternity and general public were standing with the Supreme Court and added that there was no concept of government and state without the apex court. “No government can survive minus the Supreme Court,” he stressed.

Mr Elahi said elections were the fundamental right of people and there was no concept of stopping election funds in the Constitution and law. “The money in the treasury belongs to people and Shehbaz Sharif is nobody to block the election funds,” he observed.

Senator Ejaz Chaudhry said two provincial assemblies had been dissolved and courts had given rulings that polls be held within 90 days. “Everything else is happening in the country except the elections,” he said.

Though the court has summoned secretaries of finance and defence, he suggested the real culprits were the PM and the cabinet. “If AJK prime minister can be disqualified for uttering a sentence, why can’t be the federal government tried for contempt of court,” he asked.

Strategy to avert default

Separately, PTI chief Imran Khan said his party was developing a strategy to save the country from default, adding that if he came to power he would negotiate with IMF on a “viable way of being able to pay our debts”.

In an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday, Mr Khan said his economic wizards’ team is working on that plan.

However, the former premier asserted, the economy should not be choked at this very time so that the country’s ability to pay debt did not shatter.

“Whatever we do, when we look ahead, the country’s debt is growing and economy slowly shrinking,” he commented and added that his party believed the country had stuck. “It needs to break out of borrowing cycles that have held back developing economies,” he suggested.

Mr Khan said PTI would prioritise domestic reforms over seeking debt relief. “If the PTI will return to power, the threat of country going to default will be ruled out,” he claimed.

The ex-PM said he had plans to revive the economy through restructuring the loss-making state-owned enterprises and boosting the tax base. “We need to conduct surgery in Pakistan in the way we run our government,” he explained.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2023