Hamza oath-taking: Punjab governor to send reference against LHC judge

LAHORE: Punjab Governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema said on Thursday that he had decided to send a reference against Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Justice Jawad Hassan to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) for what he called an “illegal decision” of directing the National Assembly speaker to administer oath to Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz.

The SJC is a forum created under Article 209 of the Constitution, specifically for determining complaints of misconduct received against judges.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Cheema said he had decided to take legal action against the judge after consultations with professionals over the last two days. Last month, Justice Hassan had issued a nine-page verdict after Hamza approached the high court for the third time, ending a days-long deadlock over the chief minister’s office in Punjab. Subsequently, Hamza, who was elected as Punjab chief minister on April 16, was administered the oath by NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on April 30.

In his press conference on Thursday, Cheema termed the LHC judge’s verdict “illegal”, saying that according to the honeycomb principle, no institution could “interfere” in the working of another institution. There was no provision in the Constitution that stated that anyone besides the president or the governor could issue a notification regarding the new chief minister, he added.

The governor also shared that he had requested meetings with the president and the army chief to discuss the situation in the province.He also advised Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to make his son, Hamza, aware of how to contest the election for the chief minister in a constitutional way, stressing that he would administer the oath himself if Hamza did that.

Earlier, Punjab Governor Omar Sarfaraz Cheema, who is yet to accept Hamza Shehbaz as the chief minister, appealed to Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa to play his role in the implementation of the constitutional framework in the province. “If the army chief provides me a subedar and four jawans, I will myself put this unconstitutional and fake CM in the jail,” said Cheema in a tweet addressed to the army chief.

The governor said that in the past political parties had also demanded the 111 Brigade. “I have only requested for a subedar and four army jawans,” he said. “I have made it clear from my statement what kind of intervention I expect under the current situation,” he said.

Besides, the governor in a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had termed the election of Punjab CM unconstitutional. He also blamed Hamza Shehbaz for the entire unconstitutional occurrence. “No power can stop me from barring your son from carrying out this unconditional act. I will safeguard the Constitution of Pakistan while utilising all resources,” Cheema said while addressing the PM.

He said it was unfortunate that his son, Maryam Nawaz, Nawaz Sharif and other members of the Sharif family were facing criminal cases. “Despite being on bail, your son is on an important office,” he said. It was also stated that the Punjab Advocate-General had declared the CM election as unconstitutional and pointed out the legal flaws in it. “The recent election has been a black mark on the 100 years history of the Punjab Assembly and the IGP had played a malicious role in it,” the letter said. “These officials seized all the powers of the Governor, put him under siege in the name of security and the chief secretary had tried to exert pressure on the Governor’s House admin while taking the plea of the Lahore High Court orders,” said the letter.