Parties must adhere to rulings of Supreme Court: US Congressman over Pakistan's Punjab election delay case

Washington [US], April 5 : United States representative for California's 32nd congressional district, Brad Sherman, on Tuesday spoke with Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan and said that the parties must adhere to the rule of law and rulings of the Supreme Court's decision over the Punjab election delay case.

Taking to Twitter, Sherman said, "Just spoke to former Prime Minister #ImranKhan of #Pakistan. Surprised that he's working in the wee hours of the morning. He also spoke to my friend, @DrMahmood40. Spoke about today's Pakist Supreme Court decision."

"For democracies to function, the parties must adhere to the rule of law and rulings of the Supreme Court," he added.

Earlier, on Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared the Election Commission's decision on delaying polls in Punjab "null and void," The Express Tribune reported, adding that the three-member bench hearing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) petition challenging the delay in Punjab polls announced the decision.

Pakistan's Ministry of Defence on Tuesday presented its report to the Supreme Court (SC) through Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan detailing the availability of security personnel for election duties. The Supreme Court after analysing the report announced its verdict and reinstated the previous schedule of April 30.

The bench hearing the petition was headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Umar Ata Bandial, and included Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, as per the news report. The hearings in the petition filed by PTI witnessed high drama after two judges of the original five-member bench - Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Aminuddin Khan recused themselves from hearing the case.

After the court announced its verdict, the ruling coalition government criticised the judges for its decision. Pakistan Muslim League-N Supremo and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif slammed the supreme court's verdict in the Punjab election delay case and called for the submission of a reference against the three-member SC bench, The Express Tribune reported.

While addressing a press conference on Tuesday in London, where Nawaz has been living since 2019, said, "A reference should be filed in the Supreme Judicial Council against these three judges as today's judgement is a charge sheet against them."

Referring to his disqualification by the top court in 2016, Nawaz said he was ousted from power in a matter of seconds, "whereas all-out efforts are being made to bring [PTI chief] Imran Khan back into power".

"By paralysing the state, everything has been destroyed in the love of a 'ladla' (darling) Imran Khan, which is very unfortunate," he added.