Defence Minister Khawaja Asif Friday warned state institutions to stay within their constitutional limits and stressed that the government would not allow anyone to interfere with the parliament’s affairs.
The top minister’s comments came as the federal government is in a virtual standoff with the Supreme Court over the issue of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa general elections and a bill that seeks to curtail the chief justice’s suo motu powers.
“We will not allow anyone to breach the parliament’s jurisdiction,” the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart told Geo News as the country faces one of its worst economic and political turmoils.
The defence minister said the government wants to strengthen the judiciary as it would help the masses in availing justice. “The background needs to be examined of the ongoing issues in the Supreme Court.”
Asif said parliament is the “mother of democracy”, but due to the ongoing situation in the country, the legislative is less involved in politics compared to the apex court.
“The institutions should respect their constitutional limits,” he said, asking them not to breach their jurisdiction.
The apex court while exercising ‘anticipatory injunction’, a day earlier stayed the operation on the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure Bill) 2023 aimed at curtailing the powers of the chief justice to take suo motu notice and constitute benches.
The National Assembly today unanimously passed a resolution stating in categorical terms that the parliament’s prerogative of legislation can neither be usurped nor can be interfered into.
Talking about Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir’s in-camera briefing to the National Assembly’s National Security Committee, Asif said the top military leader’s comments on parliament’s supremacy were welcoming.
“The army chief’s comments on the parliament and the Constitution are of extreme importance as people run the institutions,” the minister added.
