Now it’s between the parliament and the judiciary. With the Supreme Court leaving no space for the government to further dilly-dally on the implementation of the National Reconciliation Ordinance verdict and holding the prime minister responsible for obstructing action on its decisions, President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday rushed to Islamabad for a meeting with his party’s coalition partners to seek their support and it was decided that the matter would now be taken to parliament to respond to the judiciary.
Faced with a tough situation in a standoff between the government and the judiciary, the heads of ruling coalition on Tuesday decided to throw the ball in parliament’s court after failing to reach a consensus on a joint future plan of action on implementation of the Supreme Court’s NRO verdict. “Now the government will not respond to the judiciary as now the parliament will decide what to do,” a source told Pakistan Today after the meetings of the parliamentary heads with the president and the core committee of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
He said it was also decided that no statement would be issued by the government but the response by the parliament would, however, be strong. The source said the prime minister would make a speech in the National Assembly giving details of what the government had implemented with regard to the SC’s decision on the NRO, besides highlighting how the court had ridiculed government officials and functionaries by selectively taking up the cases against the executive. The source said a resolution might also be passed by the House in favour of the prime minister, reposing confidence in him to send a strong message that the parliament stood by him.
He quoted the president as saying that the judiciary had become a party and this was the reason that he was opposed to the restoration of the judges. Though a private TV channel said the president had asked his coalition partners that he was ready to resign if they desired or advised so, it was not confirmed by the Presidency. An official handout issued from the Presidency stated that leaders of the allied parties decided to convene National Assembly’s session on January 12 (tomorrow).
Before the meeting of the heads of the coalition partners, President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani also held a one-on-one meeting to discuss the situation and finalise their strategy.
The coalition partners meeting was attended by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Asfandyar Wali Khan, Senator Afrasiab Khattak, Senator Mir Israrullah Zehri, Dr Farooq Sattar, Senator Babar Khan Ghauri, Munir Khan Orakzai, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Senator Dr Babar Awan, Raja Pervez Ashraf and spokesperson to the president Farhatullah Babar. A source said during the meeting, PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan advised the president and prime minister to review their stance of defying court orders and suggested that the matter be handled with care.
The source said that both the senior politicians were of the view that opening too many fronts at a time was not wise and rather the executive should observe restraint vis-à-vis its relations with major state institutions – the armed forces and the judiciary.
President’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the meeting discussed current political situation with particular reference to the most recent developments. The heads of coalition partners proposed that the session of the National Assembly be urgently called to discuss the latest political issues.
Before the session of the National Assembly, a joint meeting the parliamentary parties will be also held in the Parliament House to work out the strategy to be adopted during the NA session.