Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Tuesday slammed the judiciary for ‘interfering in political matters’, demanding that a special committee should be formed to investigate facilitation by the judiciary in the abrogation of the Constitution over the years.
During his fiery speech in the National Assembly (NA), Asif while reiterating that they respect judiciary, demanded the Supreme Court (SC) to handover details of the proceeding of the election suo moto case.
Khawaja Asif lambasted the Supreme Court for ordering the ‘political parties to negotiate’, saying that it should first end their differences instead of ordering them.
Earlier in the day, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, directed the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) to provide copies of the Parliament proceedings related to the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023. The bill reduces the powers of the top judge, and the copies are required to better understand the concerns of lawmakers.
The minister asserted that the parliament is the custodian of the Constitution while accusing that an institution is trying its best to ensure that the incumbent assembly doesn’t complete its term.
“The practice of overthrowing a prime minister should end,” he maintained, pointing out the prosecutions of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif. “We [the House] should defend our Prime Minister, whatever party he may belong to,” he added.
“You are asking us to sit for dialogue, but first you should first fix your house,” he said this in reference to apparent rifts among the judges of the top court.
