ISLAMABAD: In an unprecedented move, Pakistan’s top spymasters briefed the Supreme Court judges hearing the polls delay case on the country’s security situation.
According to a report published in an English daily on Tuesday, the top officials of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI) called on Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and two other judges of the bench currently hearing the case regarding the elections in Punjab.
The meeting comes when the three-member bench and the federal government have locked horns over the release of funds for conducting polls in Punjab on May 14.
Earlier, the federal cabinet sent a summary to the National Assembly seeking its consent to release funds of Rs21 billion. However, the lower house of the parliament rejected the request, disobeying the Supreme Court’s third directive to release the required funds.
According to sources, the meeting between the top judges and the ISI and MI chiefs continued for over three hours in the chamber of the chief justice. They said the spymasters briefed the judges on the country’s security issues.
Earlier on April 4, the three-member bench led by the chief justice and comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan nullifying the Election Commission of Pakistan’s verdict on postponing the election in Punjab ordered it to hold polls in the province on May 14.
The government is digging its heels to hold elections in the province, citing the country’s ‘precarious’ security situation.
It could not be ascertained whether the Supreme Court judges were satisfied with the briefing of the top spymasters.
The three-member Supreme Court bench will resume hearing in the Punjab poll case on Tuesday (today). It could issue contempt notices to top government functionaries, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
