00:00 I think that in his most important suggestions,
00:04 and in writing them, he also takes the opinion of Senator Ali Zafar.
00:10 Senator Ali Zafar, please clarify, is this a suggestion or a direction given by the President in this letter?
00:17 You can call it both.
00:20 President has basically said that according to Article 48(5) of the Constitution,
00:27 it is his responsibility to announce the election within 90 days.
00:33 And the reason for that is that he has clearly stated in Article 48(5) that if he dissolves,
00:42 that is, if the President dissolves the Assembly of the Prime Minister,
00:46 then he will announce the date of the election.
00:49 He has said that according to him, it should be 6th November or before that.
00:55 In a way, he has adopted that position, which the PTI had also written to him.
01:01 And for which the PTI, the Islamabad Supreme Court, has also filed a petition.
01:09 Now, he also wrote that the Election Commission of Pakistan is not agreeing with me,
01:15 the Law Ministry is not agreeing with me,
01:17 and the position of the Election Commission of Pakistan is that we will fix a date after the delimitation,
01:24 and it is our right to fix this date.
01:27 So, the President then said that since he cannot hold an election,
01:32 it is the job of the Election Commission of Pakistan to give a program,
01:36 to give an election schedule,
01:38 therefore, now the matter will be decided by the Supreme Court.
01:43 And it is also true that when two institutions,
01:46 that is, the President and the Election Commission of Pakistan,
01:49 are making their own interpretations of the law and the constitution against each other,
01:54 then ultimately, the decision of who is right and who is not right,
01:58 will be decided by the Supreme Court.
02:00 So, Senator Ali Zafar, if you are saying that there are suggestions and instructions,
02:03 then this is, although Mr. Ashtorev is calling it mischief,
02:06 but you are saying that these are both important news.
02:08 But now, on what responsibility is it applicable that action should be taken on this letter,
02:12 on these suggestions, that the date given by the President should now be put on the agenda?
02:18 Look, now it is very clear that first of all, we had to see that the President had to announce the date under Article 48.5.
02:29 In my opinion, he has announced the date through this letter.
02:33 The second thing is, the Second Step Election Act says that according to that date,
02:39 to give a program, in which there are different steps to reach the date of the election,
02:45 when to file the nomination papers, when to do the scrutiny, etc. etc.
02:49 So, that is the work of the Election Commission of Pakistan.
02:52 And the Supreme Court of Pakistan had given two judgments on this.
02:56 You may remember, in the case of the Punjab Assembly,
02:59 in which it was said that the President has to give the date,
03:03 and the Election Commission of Pakistan has to consult and make a program.
03:07 And then the Election Commission of Pakistan has to conduct the election.
03:10 So, this second stage, where the Election Commission has to give a program and conduct the election,
03:16 the Election Commission is not agreeing to this.
03:18 Because the Election Commission is not agreeing, the President has no option now.
03:23 He has only the option to announce the date.
03:26 He has fulfilled his legal responsibility.
03:29 After that, his role ends and the role of the Election Commission begins.
03:34 So, now if the Election Commission of Pakistan does not fulfill its role,
03:37 then there is only one institution in our country which can direct it,
03:41 and that is either the High Court or the Supreme Court.
03:44 So, Mr. Ashtaro, you are shaking your head, I can see your mischievous smile.
03:50 What would you like to say?
03:51 No, no. I respect Mr. Arizfat a lot. He is a brilliant lawyer.
03:58 He is a great legislator. And he speaks with great responsibility.
04:05 So, in the constitution, the word announcement is not mentioned.
04:12 It is appointed. He has to appoint the date.
04:18 And remember, appointment of the Attorney General, appointment of the Chief of Army Staff,
04:25 all these words will be in the constitution.
04:28 And where the appointment is mentioned,
04:31 that is, the appointment of the date, that is not an announcement.
04:36 The announcement will be made by the Election Commission
04:39 and will be made under the same law on which President Alvi signed the document
04:44 and gave it an assent. This is the first thing.
04:48 Second, President Alvi is well aware that when you make a reference in the Supreme Court
04:57 for the amendment of a law, you want to get an opinion.
05:02 The clarification that is required at any point,
05:06 that is on the advice of the Prime Minister and only the President can do that.
05:13 And I will tell you that reference was issued against the judge and against Qazi Faiz Issa.
05:21 So, who signed it?
05:22 The President did it on the advice of the Prime Minister.
05:24 Absolutely.
05:25 The assemblies were on the advice of the BPM.
05:28 Yes. The 63A case was also filed in reference.
05:34 Do you remember? The President filed the reference and Ali Zafar followed it.
05:42 That too was on the advice of the Prime Minister.
05:47 And then the explanation of a law and the matter of the record date,
05:52 that too was filed in reference.
05:55 So, you are saying that because nothing happened on the advice of the PM,
05:58 this is not a direction.
06:00 Yes, this is a direction.
06:02 Ali Zafar is saying that this is a direction.
06:03 No, this can't be a direction.
06:06 He cannot give a direction, you are saying.
06:09 No. And also, he does not have any executive powers.
06:14 Absolutely not.
06:15 But Mr. Ashutosh, you raised a very important point and I want Ali Zafar to comment on it.
06:20 Mr. Ali Zafar, the Election Commission Pakistan is a free, autonomous institution.
06:24 What authority does the President have to give advice or guide an autonomous institution
06:29 that it should go this way or that way and do this?
06:32 Yes, absolutely. Because whatever institution you call free,
06:37 whether you call it the Supreme Court, the Election Commission or the Parliament,
06:43 all the institutions are free, but they are under one thing.
06:48 The mirror of Pakistan.
06:49 And that is our constitution.
06:52 All these institutions should be made under our constitution
06:56 and all these institutions should work according to the constitution.
07:00 If the constitution says that you have to hold the elections in 90 days
07:04 and the President has to give a date and the Election Commission of Pakistan
07:08 has to hold the elections in 90 days,
07:11 then the Election Commission of Pakistan cannot say that we are free,
07:16 we do not follow the constitution.
07:19 The President cannot say this.
07:20 The Supreme Court of Pakistan cannot say this.
07:23 The constitution says that until the constitution is not amended,
07:27 the Parliament does not do anything, all the institutions are free,
07:31 but they are under the constitution.
07:34 And Article 5 of the constitution says that all the institutions are free.
07:39 Mr. Ashutosh, the position of the election is that delimitation is necessary for us
07:44 and the election schedule will be given after the delimitation.
07:47 But which part of the constitution says that you should delay the elections for delimitation?
07:53 No, it is not about delaying.
07:55 There cannot be two opinions in this that it has to be done in 90 days.
07:58 But I would like to clarify one thing.
08:01 Your question was whether the President of Pakistan has the authority to give direction.
08:07 His answer is that he has no authority to give direction.
