Khawaja Asif demands full court for hearing case about dissolution of provincial assemblies

ISLAMABAD (APP) - Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Friday demanded the Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial to form a full court to hear the suo motu notice case regarding delay in the announcement of a date for elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly on Friday, the minister said that a bench comprising nine judges is hearing this case but the matter is of utmost importance and the full court must consider it. “I do not want to give the impression that parliamentarians are trespassing in the jurisdiction of the judiciary but I, as a political worker, demand to resolve this complicated situation which is being faced by the country during the last 7-8 months,” he added.

Asif said that a full court must start from the Panama case and give a decision which would have a great impact on the future of the country. "All the stakeholders must be listened and such a solution be given which should be a roadmap for all."

“There are some ex-judges like Justice Muneer Hussain and Riaz Sheikh who are criticized but others like Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui and Nazim Siddiqui are known for their dignity,” he said and appealed to the judiciary to review why some among them are criticized yet.

He said that the territory of parliamentarians was trespassed in past and PML-N leadership was also victimized. “We would also say that some of them (judges) had not fulfilled responsibilities assigned to them,” he added.

Khawaja Asif said that a constitutional crisis was being faced because of re-defining Article 63-A of the constitution. He recalled the decision of the apex court about lifetime disqualification of the ex-Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and said that there would be no precedent of disqualification of a person of an institution by another institution.

The minister said there have been direct and indirect confessions by the people who remained involved in disqualification case of Nawaz Sharif and the full court of the apex court should start from the Panama case.

Asif said that politicians are always blamed who serve the people by considering it as 'worship' but other elites are not named who enjoy during their services.

He said that the salary of a Member of the National Assembly is Rs 168, 000 only and some of them even come on foot from Parliament lodges to the National Assembly because they cannot afford life style like rich persons. “But there are some elites for whom traffic remains stuck for 15 minutes and the curfew-like situation is imposed on their movement,” he said, adding that only politicians are criticized despite this on-ground reality.