The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the attorney general of Pakistan and the Law Ministry to speed up the process for issuing an ordinance to give the right of franchise to expatriates.
The three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Gulzar Ahmad and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed resumed the hearing into identical constitutional petitions by Imran Khan and others.
During the course of the proceedings, the CJP said it was the desire of the constitution not that of the Supreme Court and it was the court’s obligation to follow the constitution.
Deputy Attorney General Ali Zai informed the court of the government’s concern that granting voting rights to overseas Pakistanis was almost impossible as it needed a lot of time. “The software is untested which is the real problem and testing the software is not possible before May 11,” he said.
The CJP said prima facie the government was not serious in providing voting rights to overseas Pakistanis. “All the stockholders are willing but the government is using delaying tactics,” the CJP said.