00:00After yesterday's Supreme Court decision, we can see that there is a slow approach by Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan People's Party.
00:10They have taken a technical stance, but if we talk about the mainstream leadership,
00:15Nawaz Sharif has not reacted to it, nor has Shabaz Sharif made any comment on it,
00:19nor has Mariam Nawaz Sahiba, Bilawal Bhutto or Sadr Zardari made any formal reaction to it.
00:25The PMLN has brought some of its second tier leaders to the scene.
00:31Khawaja Asif, Hanifa Basi, who was the Minister of Law,
00:35Azma Bukhari Sahiba, who is the translator of the Punjab government,
00:39who is a minister in fact, has spoken about it.
00:42Has the PMLN raised any technical questions today?
00:46They rewrote Article 151 and Article 106.
00:50Only the Parliament has the right to rewrite the Constitution.
00:55The Sunni Council came to ask for relief.
00:58The PTI was not a part of the case.
01:00Relief was given to the Justice Department.
01:03The sad thing is that there is a way of crossing the Constitutional floor.
01:07After the full decision, the certificates that are collected by the parties,
01:11are no longer valid.
01:13The intraparty elections of the parties are no longer valid.
01:16What will happen to those certificates?
01:18One person gave an oath and said,
01:20I have voluntarily joined the Sunni Unity Council.
01:25After this affidavit, when he gives the second affidavit,
01:28that I have a relationship with the PTI,
01:30then I should be considered a PTI.
01:34We have with us Ahmed Bilal Mehboob and Salwar Apil Datt.
01:37Thank you very much for joining us.
01:39First of all, the basic question is that the government has said that
01:43we will think about the review and decide.
01:45We will ask the Cabinet.
01:47Sir, there is scope for a review here.
01:49If there is, even if they take it technically,
01:51can there be a difference in this judgment?
01:54Can there be a different outcome if the government goes for a review?
02:01Thank you very much.
02:02We know that the scope of the review is very limited.
02:07Until a very big mistake is identified and pointed out in the judgment,
02:16there is no expectation of a review.
02:21Obviously, there is an option for a review.
02:25They can do it if they feel that there is something that can be agitated.
02:34But apparently, there is less chance of achieving something in favour of Muslim League Law.
02:42This question is being asked again and again.
02:44Yesterday, Rana Sanaullah Sahib raised this technical issue.
02:48He is saying that the first alibi given for participating in the Sunni Tariqat Council,
02:53after that, how can a second alibi be given for joining another Jamaat?
02:59Is this an anti-63A alibi?
03:04This is what PMLN is implying.
03:09These are all technical points.
03:12Some judges of the Supreme Court had an attitude
03:17that they will make a literal interpretation of the law
03:21and will make a decision accordingly.
03:24But some other judges felt that in these extraordinary circumstances,
03:30there is a need for a broad interpretation
03:35keeping in mind the spirit of the law.
03:38So they have gone beyond these technical points.
03:44I think that was the right attitude.
03:47Because in this case, the spirit of the law has been worked on
03:53and I think they have done the right thing.
03:56Instead of giving the seats to the Sunni Tariqat Council,
03:59the Sunni Tariqat Council would have given them to the PTI at some point.
04:04So they have covered all these injustices in one step.
04:11In fact, they have also corrected the mistake of the PTI
04:16that the PTI went to the Sunni Tariqat Council
04:19and instead of reviving its own parliamentary party,
04:23this court has done this by broadly interpreting it.
04:26And I personally like this broad interpretation.
04:30It should have been done this way
04:32instead of going to the literal technicalities
04:35and denying the PTI these seats.
04:37Sir, but there is a fine line,
04:39and you understand it better than me,
04:41that there is a fine line between
04:45doing a broader interpretation of the constitution
04:47and rewriting the constitution.
04:49This is a big blur in this.
04:51Do you think that those who are repeatedly talking about rewriting the constitution,
04:55that this has changed the nature of the constitution,
04:57is there any life in this allegation?
05:00I don't think there is any life in this allegation.
05:04Look, the case of Article 63A,
05:08there was a very explicit thing in it
05:11which could have been called the rewriting of the constitution.
05:17In Article 63A, it is not written anywhere
05:20that the one who is defecting will not even count his vote.
05:25But in the decision it is written that his vote will not be counted.
05:29So that was a very explicit departure from the text of the constitution.
05:34But here we don't see any departure.
05:37This was the scope of interpretation,
05:39the legal scope in which it was interpreted.
05:42Which I think is correct,
05:44because the way things were denied,
05:47the way things were changed,
05:49and then they were forced to take the support of another party,
05:52which was their mistake.
05:54So in that case, I think the same interpretation was made,
05:57which has been done.
05:58I don't think this is the rewriting of the constitution.
06:00But now, since the time given is 15 days,
06:04should we call it a political turn or a political opening,
06:10that these candidates,
06:12a way of floor-crossing was not opened,
06:16because during this time,
06:18they should have gone to Tehreek-e-Insaaf,
06:20but in the politics of Pakistan,
06:22the name of Mumkinat,
06:24then the way of floor-crossing was not opened.
06:32Yes, Mr. Ahmed.
06:34The way of floor-crossing was not opened.
06:42I don't think the way of defection was opened,
06:46because these were the people of PTI,
06:49who were elected independently,
06:51according to the interpretation of the election commission.
06:54And at that time, they had a broad scope,
06:57that if they wanted, they could have joined another party.
07:00If they wanted, they could have joined PMLN.
07:04But they didn't do that.
07:11Right. Thank you very much, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mahboob.
07:14What I have understood is that there were many incidents
07:17of these candidates joining other parties,
07:20before the election, after the election,
07:22but since this opportunity was not made available,
07:25it was not referred to any other party.
07:27So, after this clear judgment of the Supreme Court,
07:29apparently, they do not see any reason
07:31to join any other party, other than Tariq-e-Insaaf,
07:34with happiness or with their consent.
