In October, the Lahore court ordered the postponement of all by-elections following the Punjab government’s plea to the court that the ECP had not taken its views into consideration before announcing the by-election schedule. The court, in fact, chided the ECP for showing undue haste in the case of the NA-55 by-election. The Supreme Court, however, was clear on the issue when it ruled that the ECP was an independent body and that even parliament could not clip its powers.
There was much weight in the plea by Wasim Sajjad representing Sheikh Rashid Ahmed that when elections could be held in Afghanistan and Iraq, and were held in Pakistan in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, there was no reason why polling could not be conducted in NA-55. We hope the Punjab government realises that the spirit of the SC order covers all those constituencies — including NA-123 — where by-elections were postponed. Of course, several religious and political personalities are on the Taliban’s hit list — that goes without saying. But, as implied in the question posed by Mr Justice Shakirullah Jan during the proceedings, a bad law-and-order situation had not prevented the provincial government from carrying out other activities. With all legal and administrative hurdles removed, there is no reason why the former prime minister should not make a fresh bid for parliament.
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