Pakistan won't accept SC poll verdict amid govt-judiciary standoff

Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has cancelled his visit to the US to attend the spring meetings of the World Bank and the IMF and hold talks with officials to unlock a much-needed USD 1.1 billion IMF bailout, amid deepening domestic political uncertainty and developing judicial crisis. Meanwhile, the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting held on Friday as the nation passes through serious economic and political crises compounded by the recent Supreme Court verdict on the PTI petition challenging delay in elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. The ruling coalition has opposed the verdict which it believes is a minority verdict of 3-2 and should not be implemented. The SC has directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold elections in Punjab on May 14.

As per The Express Tribune report, the key issue, however, remained whether the government would spare the army troops and financial resources for the election exercise in the largest province of the country. The two-hour long NSC meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. According to Geo News report, the NSC has decided to "speed up" the operation against terrorists. Dawn report has said that  the option of “imposing an emergency” in the country could also be discussed in the meeting in light of the current circumstances. The emergency can be declared under Article 232 — which pertains to the proclamation of emergency on account of war and internal disturbance — of the Constitution for the maximum period of one year.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan smelled a rat in the government’s move to convene the NSC meeting, saying that it would use “security as a pretext” to justify postponement of the elections.The former premier said the “imported government-convened NSC” would expose the armed forces not only to the judiciary but directly to the nation. He said it was now clear that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) wanted to avoid the elections in any case.