Opposition hands defeat to PTI govt in Senate

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government faced a gruelling defeat in the Senate on Friday as opposition parties bulldozed a resolution through the Upper House expressing “grave concern” over the ruling party’s decision to file references against two judges and torpedoed a bill to raise the number of judges in the Islamabad High Court.

“This House expresses grave concern over the filing of references in the Supreme Judicial Council by the government against some Honourable Judges of the Supreme and High Courts in secretive manner without even the knowledge of the concerned Judges,” the resolution said.

The resolution was tabled by the opposition leader in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq. Leader of the House Shibli Faraz said it was unfortunate the resolution was not shared with the government benches before tabling it in the House. The resolution was moved by suspending the Senate rules.

The resolution adds: “The filing of references has provoked serious criticism, caused a split in the Bar and the resignation of Additional Attorney General. There is a lingering suspicion that the arbitrary and suspicious manner of filing references before the Supreme Judicial Council linked to recent verdicts by the Honourable Judges. These references are a direct attack on the independence of the judiciary and are aimed at stifling the voices of reason, truth and justice in the judiciary.

“This House expresses solidarity with the Honourable Judges under siege, lawyers elected representation and Bars Council of the Country. This House calls upon the government to withdraw the references against the Honourable Judges.”

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari condemned the government’s action against the judges. “They [government] filed references against the judges and did not even tell them. These references were filed in secret and show the government’s intent,” Bilawal said.

He also demanded of the National Assembly speaker to issue the production orders of Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir.

Flanked by government ally Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Bilawal added: “The government has the same attitude that Musharraf had against the judiciary. The government is trying to make a selected judiciary and a selected opposition and we condemn this.”

Abbasi also condemned the government’s action against the judges and urged the government to take back its references. “Today the Bar Councils and representative bodies are against the action taken by the government,” Abbasi said. “The Senate has passed the resolution condemning the attack and we have filed it in the National Assembly as well. We strongly condemn the references and urge the government to take them back.”

Abbasi added: “These references were made in the dead of the night and no one knew anything about it. This action was taken to dismantle the judiciary and drag their name through the mud. We stand with the legal fraternity.”

In another development, the Senate rejected the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill-2019 after majority lawmakers opposed it seeking time for a thorough debate in the House before the bill could be passed. The bill was due to lapse on June 4, as per the rules.

The bill, moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Azam Swati on behalf of the Minister for Law and Justice, was opposed by PPP Senators Sherry Rehman and Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.

They said due time was not given to lawmakers to study the bill put before the House for passage that too on the same day when a Standing Committee laid its report. Standing Committee on Law and Justice Chairman Muhammad Javed Abbasi, who belongs to the PML-N, had compiled the report for laying in Upper House of the Parliament.

Leader of the House Shibli Faraz regretted all opposition parties having representation in the Standing Committee had debated the bill before sending it to the Senate, but it was opposed due to “personal benefits” setting aside the comfort of the people.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Swati said the opposition move was “political point” scoring as all members present in the Standing Committee meetings had unanimously passed the bill for onward submission to the House.

He said around 18,000 cases were pending in the court and litigants were suffering since long due to the pendency of their cases, adding it was the need of the hour to improve capacity of the court for quick disposal of cases.—APP/News Desk