ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan will lead a rally in Lahore today, Saturday, to express solidarity with the Supreme Court chief justice and Pakistan’s constitution amid an ongoing tussle between the government and the judiciary.
The coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the country’s higher judiciary, particularly its chief justice, have been at loggerheads ever it took up a case of delays in announcing elections in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, whose legislative assemblies were dissolved by ex-PM Khan and his allies in January to force the government to announce early national elections.
There have been a series of court cases on election delays since, putting the government and judiciary on a warpath, as the Sharif-led government insists all elections in the country be held on the same date despite verdicts from the court that they be held within the constitutionally mandated 90-day deadline from the dissolutions.
General elections are currently scheduled for October.
In a video message to his supporters on Friday evening, Khan announced said his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf would hold rallies in Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, and Rawalpindi to show solidarity with the constitution and the chief justice.
“I will myself come out and lead a rally in Lahore tomorrow, god willing,” Khan said, adding that his party had decided to lead rallies in Lahore and Peshawar, the provincial capitals of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces respectively, as the people of the two provinces had been “disenfranchised” due to the absence of elected governments.
Khan called on his supporters who couldn’t attend the rallies to protest at designated locations near their homes.
“All you have to do is to step out of your homes and from 5:30 p.m to 6:30 p.m. and stand for one hour at the union council designated locations and say that you stand with your constitution, the Supreme Court and the judiciary,” he added.
On Friday, Pakistan’s top court said it would order polls to be held in the Punjab province on May 14 if the federal government and PTI failed to reach a consensus on holding elections on the same day across the country.
Multiple rounds of talks between ex-PM Khan and the Sharif government to decide on a consensus date for elections failed last week.
Tensions between the judiciary and the Sharif government began after Khan dissolved the KP and Punjab assemblies, unleashing weeks of delays and political wrangling after which the Supreme Court in a three-to-two verdict on March 1 ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to fulfill its constitutional obligation and announce an election schedule for Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The ECP subsequently said the vote in Punjab would be held on April 30 but later said it was impossible to hold it in April due to security and financial concerns. It announced October 8 as the new poll date in Punjab.
Khan’s PTI party then petitioned the Supreme Court, which on April 4 ruled that the ECP’s postponement decision was illegal and elections should be held in Punjab on May 14. As that date rolls closer, none of the requirements for elections, including releasing funds and arranging security for poll duty, have been arranged by the election commission, making it unlikely that the court’s deadline will be met.
The standoff between the judiciary and government is also expected to deepen as parliament legislates to curtail the powers of the Supreme Court, particularly the chief justice, and introduce the right to appeal against verdicts in cases initiated by judges on their own through the constitution’s suo motu provision.
