ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers on Wednesday continued their assault on the judiciary as ex-prime minister and PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi urged the speaker to convert the whole house into a committee and summon Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial before it, to seek an explanation over his calling for the record of assembly proceedings.

Speaking on a point of order, Mr Abbasi asked Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf not to provide record of the assembly proceedings to the court, adding that he could not even do so without approval of the members.

Both sides of the aisle had, on Monday, asked the speaker not to provide the record to the court.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the record of the parliamentary proceedings regarding the law that had already been passed by parliament aimed at clipping some powers of the CJP. The eight-member bench, headed by CJP Bandial, had already stopped implementation of the law even before the president’s assent to it, prompting a strong reaction from the lawmakers.

Asif proposes committee of whole house to look into court decisions since Justice Munir

Mr Abbasi said it was a serious matter concerning the “sovereignty and supre­macy” of the parliament. Recalling that in 1997, the then NA speaker Ilahi Bakhsh Soomro had provided the record of the parliament to the former CJP Syed Sajjad Ali Shah, he said it should not happen. “Constitute a committee of the whole house to hold a debate on the matter. Call the chief justice of Pakistan to ask him as to why and for what purpose he is seeking the record,” said ex-PM Abbasi.

Defence Minister Khawaja Moham­mad Asif supported Mr Abbasi’s proposal and reiterated his demand that there should be a parliamentary probe into the past controversial role of the judiciary. He also called for the formation of the committee of the whole house.

The minister said the committee should be tasked to “investigate the decisions of higher courts since Justice Munir to give legal cover to constitutional violations” till date. He said this was a fact that the two constitutional institutions were at loggerheads as “a clash of opinion” existed between the two on the interpretation of the constitution.PTI dissident and leader of the opposition Raja Riaz also asked the speaker not to provide any parliamentary record to the SC. He alleged that the judges were involved in selling of the PTI tickets in Punjab for Rs50m, claiming that he knew the names of the candidates who had purchased the tickets.

Ghaus Bux Mahar of the GDA made it clear that his party was not part of the ongoing tirade against the judiciary.

The National Assembly will meet again at 11am today (Thursday).

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2023