Islamabad: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said Islamabad was keen to expand its trade, energy, connectivity and security cooperation with Moscow during his meeting with visiting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk. 

Overchuk arrived in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on Wednesday on a two-day official visit with a high-level delegation. He has held talks with Deputy PM Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s army chief and leading officials in Islamabad to bolster trade, investment, security and energy cooperation with Pakistan. 

Islamabad has recently sought to strengthen ties with Moscow, including requests for discounted crude oil to address its balance of payments crisis and high energy import bill, as part of a broader strategy to diversify its international partnerships and economic dependencies.

“The Prime Minister stated that Pakistan is keen to expand trade, economic, energy, connectivity and security cooperation with Russia,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement. 

Sharif told Overchuk that Pakistan considers strengthening relations with Russia as an important priority of Pakistan’s foreign policy, the PMO said. 

Overchuk thanked the Pakistani premier for giving him a warm welcome and reiterated Moscow’s resolve to deepen relations with Islamabad, the PMO said. 

“He characterized Pakistan-Russia relations as constructive and mutually beneficial,” it added. 

Sharif also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries to further strengthen mutually advantageous cooperation in all areas of shared interest, especially trade, investment, energy, IT, agriculture, science & technology and education.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Thursday told the country’s electoral body that amendments made to Pakistan’s election laws last month would supersede a prior ruling of the top court related to reserved seats in parliament, raising fears of a standoff with the Supreme Court. 

Sadiq’s letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) came after the Supreme Court censured the election regulatory authority last week for what it said were “dilatory tactics” to avoid implementing a judgment on reserved seats for women and minorities in the national and provincial legislatures that favored the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. 

In a verdict on July 12, a 13-member bench of the court declared the PTI of Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan eligible for reserved seats after the ECP forced the party’s candidates to contest the February 8 polls as independents. After the election, the PTI-backed candidates were forced to join Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) party to claim a share of the reserved seats as independents are not eligible for the extra seats.

The Supreme Court overturned the ECP’s decision, saying it had misconstrued an earlier verdict related to the party’s election symbol by depriving the PTI of the reserved seats. The verdict was a blow to the ruling coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz, which could lose its two-thirds majority if the verdict is implemented. 

In August, Pakistan’s parliament passed the Elections (Second Amendment) Bill, 2024, which restricted granting the reserved seats in parliament to the PTI. The bill says that if a candidate does not submit a declaration of his affiliation with a political party to the returning officer before seeking the allotment of an election symbol, he or she shall be “deemed to be considered as an independent candidate and not a candidate of any political party.” 

“As the judgment of the SC was rendered based on the law prior to the enactment of the amendment, the said judgment is now incapable of implementation,” Sadiq wrote in a letter to the ECP. 

“Instead, it is the Amended Election Act that shall prevail and supersede the prior ruling.”

He pointed out that the consistent jurisprudence of the Supreme Court also held the view that the parliamentary law was superior to the court’s order. 

“It is also brought to your kind notice that the Amended Election Act is in the field, therefore, it is the statutory obligation of the ECP to honor the laws made by Parliament and uphold the principles of democracy and parliamentary supremacy,” the letter said. 

He warned that actions perceived to be undermining parliament’s sovereignty can “erode public trust and confidence in our institutions.”

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

The development takes place at a time when Sharif’s coalition government is planning to get a constitutional amendment passed from parliament to allegedly give an extended term to the country’s top judge. 

The amendment requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament, though the coalition can lose a portion of its existing number of seats after the Supreme Court’s July 12 ruling on reserved seats gets implemented. 

The package of reforms, widely believed to include as many as 22 amendments to the constitution, is expected to increase the retirement age of superior judges by three years and change the process by which the Supreme Court chief justice is appointed.

The amendments have raised widespread concerns among opposition parties and legal experts who say the moves are aimed at increasing the government’s power in making key judicial appointments and dealing with the defection of lawmakers during house votes.