• Sadiq says he is waiting for ECP decision on the matter
• Says no ‘agents’ present on parliament premises; lawmakers can appoint ‘interpreters of Constitution’

KARACHI: National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has said that he would not act on the Supreme Court’s decision in the matter of the reserved seats allocated to PTI, saying that he would prefer to wait for the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision before taking action.

In a wide-ranging interview with Geo News aired on Sunday, he referred to the Supreme Court majority decision on the matter of PTI’s reserved seats as a “re-writing of the Constitution”, saying the assembly would not carry out the court’s order as the law had been changed — a reference to recent amendments made in the Elections Act, 2017.

“If we start listening to courts, there are many decisions… We won’t do it on the court’s order, we will wait for the ECP to notify it,” he said, adding that the Election Commission was the competent authority in this regard.

When the interviewer asked if he held the ECP above the Supreme Court, Mr Sadiq said that despite being notified about court decisions, he preferred to wait for ECP’s directions on an issue concerning parliamentarians.

Mr Sadiq also revealed that he had been approached by members of the treasury benches, who wished to hold meetings of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and claim its chairmanship — as they had the numbers to do so.

However, Mr Sadiq said he had asked them to wait, and hoped that following the passage of the 26th amendment, some energies would be focused on this outstanding issue.

Mr Sadiq admitted that decision-making remained slow in a number of parliamentary committees — including the PAC — as they remained dysfunctional.

26th amendment

On the changes introduced through the 26th amendment, Mr Sadiq was asked about the impression that the judicial reforms undertaken actually erode the independence of the judiciary.

“If parliament can make the Constitution, why can’t they appoint those who have to interpret the Constitution. If the provision exists in developed nations of the world, why can’t we have it,” he asked, adding that this was a debate that would continue.

He also pointed out that under Article 239, no court could call a constitutional amendment into question, adding that if the PTI tried to challenge it, they would be violating the Constitution itself.

He also spoke at length about the process adopted to pass the 26th amendment, saying that the month-and-a-half-long efforts involved consultations with all political parties. While admitting that there had been an initial ‘lack of coordination’ on the amendment, he said PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and PM Shehbaz Sharif activated their teams and made commendable efforts to secure across-the-board consensus from all political actors.

Talking about the PTI’s decision not to support or vote for the amendment, he said that while many things were appreciated and agreed to in private, every party has its own stance and for political reasons, the PTI did not back the amendment.

When the interviewer recalled allegations levelled by the opposition about the presence of intelligence agency personnel in the assembly, Mr Sadiq categorically said: “No agency officer comes to the National Assembly premises”.

He insisted that in all the meetings that were held in parliament, there was no such person present, claiming that when PML-N was in opposition, “we would sit in the opposition leader’s chambers and ‘they’ would come to deal with us on the government’s behalf”.

References against ‘defectors’

Referring to the matter of ‘PTI-backed’ MNAs voting for the 26th amendment, Mr Sadiq said that as per the ECP, the status of the four MNAs was ‘independent’.

He then gave the example of Adil Bazai, an independent MNA from Quetta who had joined the PML-N, but remained part of the opposition benches. Mr Sadiq claimed that he had also sought chairmanship of a standing committee and development funds — as a ruling party MNA — but went against the wishes of the parliamentary party on key votes, such as the constitutional amendment.

Saying that he had already sent one reference against Mr Bazai to ECP, Mr Sadiq said the PML-N whip had told him they had issued a notice to the MNA over his abstention from voting on the Constitutional amendment, adding that once he received a complaint from the party, he would send it to the ECP

However, he said if any party has objections, they can move a complaint and “we will check our records and if it merits a reference, we will move it”.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2024