Defenders of Constitution now biggest violators: Rabbani

ISLAMABAD: Senator Mian Raza Rabbani has condemned the constitutional violations made by the PTI government.

He said that it is ironic that the PTI, which was the gravest civilian violator of the Constitution in its previous tenure, is now advocating for the Constitution. He reminded the PTI of its past constitutional violations, such as the circumvention of Parliament’s constitutional right to legislate and the appointment of two members of the ECP in violation of the rules, law, and Constitution.

Senator Rabbani said that the PTI government had violated the Constitution, 1973, by legislating through the promulgation of ordinances in contravention of Article 89.

He also reminded the PTI that its previous government had re-promulgated the PMDC Ordinance, which the Senate had rejected, through a Constitutional Resolution under Article 89.

The former Senate chairman said that the previous PTI government had filed a Reference against a judge of the Supreme Court without applying the mind and requirements under the law and Constitution, and it was dismissed by the court. Additionally, the previous government had withdrawn the prosecution team in a case of high treason under Article 6 against Musharraf.

He mentioned that the then speaker of the National Assembly deliberately did not summon the session within 14 days, violating Article 54, so that a no-confidence resolution against the former prime minister could not be moved.

He also reminded the PTI that the deputy speaker’s ruling on the no-confidence motion against the then prime minister, which had violated the Constitution, was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

He said that the former prime minister advising the President to dissolve the National Assembly, under a constitutional bar under Article 95, was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

The President had acted on such unconstitutional advice and dissolved the National Assembly, which was also declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and restored the assembly. Senator Rabbani pointed out that the previous government had violated Article 154 by not calling a meeting of the CCI every 90 days and violated Article 160 by not announcing the NFC Award.

He also mentioned that the dismissal order of the federal government, dated Oct 15th, 2018, concerning the chairperson and members of the Competition Commission of Pakistan was also set aside by the Islamabad High Court.