‘Under what fiqh?’: Discretionary powers halal for CJP, but haram for PM, CM, says Ahsan Iqbal

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal on Sunday questioned the discretionary powers of the chief justice of Pakistan, saying under what Fiqh the powers of the CJP are legitimate (Halal) when the same powers of the prime minister and chief minister are termed illegitimate (Haram), declaring it a glaring contradiction.

Talking to media after visiting a Madrassa, he said the government moved one step back to mitigate the ongoing strife between the parliament and Supreme Court, the judiciary moved two steps ahead, deeming it the weakness of the government.

The minister further said all the stakeholders will have to take a step back and show restraint to end political strife. Talking about Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s India visit, Ahsan said had Bilawal not gone to India, it would have been the boycott of SCO, not India. Meanwhile, Ahsan Iqbal said that Pakistan expects to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ahead of next budget.

During an interview with a private TV channel, the minister said the current government would try its level best to present a reasonable budget.

He further said the government had taken all the tough decisions already, adding the country’s stability depends on the political stability as well as continuity of economic policies.

He said if the assembly is dissolved 10 days ahead of its term, then there is space of 90 days, which reaches up to November. If the assembly is dissolved after completing its period, then there is space of 60 days, which will be completed in October. He said that they would leave the government on the fixed time and the polls would be conducted as per the Constitution.

He maintained if the negotiations with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) continued and former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan did not disrupt the political negotiation process, they would sort out the issue. He remarked that the issue was not that either elections should be conducted or not, but the issue was that whether polls in Punjab should be held ahead of other polls in the country or general elections should be held in the country at the same time.

Ahsan Iqbal stressed upon the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) for full court formation for sorting out issues of the country and added that if he did not do that, all the routes would be closed. He said that there were two concepts in democracy, one was judicial review and the other was parliamentary oversight and added that both of them should go side by side. “If the courts exceed their powers, then parliamentary oversight function would have to take stock of the situation. If parliament does the same, then the issue would have to be seen through judicial review.”