Pak SC urges govt & opposition to hold talks on holding elections in Punjab

Pakistans Supreme Court on Monday urged the federal government and the opposition to resume dialogue for restoring peace in the country as the apex court adjourned for one week the hearing on the election commissions plea on the impasse over holding elections in Punjab provinceThe apex court had previously ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan ECP to hold elections in the politically crucial province on May 14A threejudge bench led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar heard the matter on Monday as the May 14 deadline for holding the polls expired on SundayThe chief justice noted that the election commissions stance was that it would conduct elections if given the resources He continued that the ECP had now opened the Pandoras BoxJustice Bandial maintained that he had asked the government and the opposition to find high moral standardsFurther hearing of the case was adjourned till next week the Express Tribune newspaper reportedPTI lawyer Ali Zafar argued that one week was too much however the CJP stated that the court had another important matter tomorrowAccording to Justice Bandial the court would have hurried if it knew that election time had come He added that the manner in which political forces were working was not rightBandial also told the PTI lawyer to inform the partys leadership of how elections could be held in a polarised manner You will have to create a high moral ground he said adding that holding elections in 90 days was the main matterThere was a deadlock between the federal government and Imran Khanled Pakistan TehreekeInsaf PTI party over the holding of polls in Punjab province However the coalition government and former prime minister Khans party made big progress earlier this month after they agreed to hold general elections in the entire country on the same day but still differed on the date of the pollsAlso readThose involved in violence will face terrorism trials Shahbaz Sharif warnsThe court in its April 4 directive also asked the cashstrapped federal government to provide Rs 21 billion for the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by April 10 and make available all the necessary security personnel to keep peace on the polling day but the government failed to fulfil either of the two by citing financial and security reasonsInstead of providing funds the government played delaying tactics and took the issue to the Parliament which refused to endorse a money bill seeking funds for electionsThe government and opposition Pakistan TehreekeInsaf began talks on April 27 to solve the issue of elections and reported a consensus on holding elections simultaneously across the country However an impasse on the date of polling stopped further progress when the third and last round ended on May 2The ECP on May 3 approached the court seeking a review of its order to hold polls on May 14The issue of elections has rocked Pakistani politics as Khan demanded snap polls when he was voted out of power in April last year As he failed to get his goal through protest Khan dissolved the assemblies in Punjab and KhyberPakhtunkhwa in January by using his partys governments in the two provincesUnder the law elections should be held within 90 days of the dissolution of an assemblyThe PTI dissolved the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies on January 14 and 18 respectively in a bid to force the ruling coalition in Islamabad to hold early general elections in the countryThe National Assembly will complete its fiveyear term in August this yearAccording to the Constitution elections shall be held within 90 days after the dissolution of the lower house This means that the election must be held by midOctober The last general election was held in July 2018This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever