Ayaz Palijo suggests way out of political, legal crises

KARACHI: Qaumi Awami Tahreek (QAT) President Ayaz Latif Palijo has said that there should be a full bench of the Supreme Court for matters relating to elections and 63-A.

In a statement on Monday, the Sindhi nationalist leader gave his recipe for ridding the country of current economic, constitutional and political crises. He suggested that there should be no rewriting of the Constitution by any court, adding that the general elections to all National Assembly and provincial assembly constituencies should be held on same day.

The urged that there should be no discrimination on the basis of domicile or popularity and all political prisoners should be dealt equally by all courts. “There should be a special larger constitutional bench of SC to revisit and review its old politicised decisions, including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif cases, under Article 188,” he said.

He opined that there was no specific mention of suo moto powers in the Constitution, therefore, if the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) considers something worth noticing, there should be a bench of five most senior apex court judges. While as the CJP has himself taken notice of the issue, so in view of the principle of natural justice: “nemo judex in causa sua”, he should not be the part of that bench.