ISLAMABAD , May 3, 2023: Reiterating his proposal to hold the judiciary accountable, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Wednesday a resolution must be passed to form a full-house committee to investigate constitutional violations [committed by the judiciary] from Justice Munir till date.
His statement comes on the second successive day as the Supreme Court had ordered NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to furnish it with the record of parliamentary proceedings on the bill clipping CJP’s powers. The Speaker office later turned down the request.
Addressing the National Assembly session, he said it was unfortunate that two constitutional institutions were at daggers drawn to each other adding that they are interpreting the constitution differently.
Reading the tweet, he had posted earlier, aloud, he said the parliament had to act resolutely.
The minister went on to say that they were against the territorial trespassing. “Whenever the constitution was violated, the judiciary inked it”, he added.
Mr Asif said 180,000 cases were pending before the senior judiciary including 51,000 in the apex court. “I know the pain what a prisoner, pleading for bail, goes through,” he added. Their basic responsibility was, he said, deciding on the cases and not entangling in political wrangling.
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Yes, I know that is also their job but they [should set their house in order first],” he said.
He continued by saying that there were 400,000 cases pending before high courts adding that it was their time to introspect. “But look how they talk,” he added. They acquitted the accused, he said, after they had died.
The lower house should sort it adding that it was the famer of the constitution. “We will never violate our creation,” he added.