By Justice Markandey Katju
After 4 days of hearing before the Pakistan Supreme Court ( which should have taken just 5 minutes, as I have explained in my article below), today, Monday, will be the 5th day of the hearing.
Now, the ruling PDM ( People’s Democratic Movement ), which knows it will be wiped out if early elections are held ( as Imran Khan is immensely popular in Pakistan ), has decided to behave like goondas and a child who flings the chess board away on realising the game is lost.
The PDM has announced it will boycott the hearing and will not accept the decision of the Court, and will approach the Supreme Judicial Council of Pakistan against the 3 Judges who are on the bench hearing the case.
The PDM has announced it has no confidence in the 3 Judges of the Court which will hear the case. This implies that it will only accept the Court verdict if the bench is composed of judges of its liking. So now it should be the PDM, not the Chief Justice, who should decide the composition of the bench. Does this happen anywhere in the democratic world ?
The Court, too, has contributed to the bizarre melodrama and comedy which has been going on for the last 5 days. It should have straightaway ordered holding elections within 90 days as mandated by Article 224(2) of the Pakistan Constitution, but instead it permitted long-winded arguments by lawyers in a case which should have taken just 5 minutes ( as there was really nothing to decide in view of the clear Constitutional provision ).
The Court has also unnecessarily summoned the Defence and Finance Secretaries, thus further delaying the hearing. After all, what will the poor Secretaries say, except repeat the instructions of their political masters ?
The Pakistan Supreme Court had disqualified and removed Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani for not being ‘sadiq-o-amin’ as he had committed contempt of court.
I submit that similarly the Court should hold the PDM Govt as not being ‘sadiq-o-amin’ and sack it, as it too has committed gross contempt of court.
