PM Shehbaz summons meeting of coalition parties

Leaders of the coalition parties are meeting in Islamabad on Saturday to devise future strategy of the government. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will chair the meeting via video link from Lahore.

The overall political situation of the country will be discussed in the meeting. Law Minister Azam Nazer Tarar will brief the meeting on legal issues.

The apex court is hearing a case over the delay in elections to the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies amid controversy over the suo motu notice taken in this regard.

The PTI had challenged the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) March 22 order of postponing elections in the two provinces. A five-member bench originally formed to hear the plea had been dissolved twice after two judges recused themselves from the case following a Supreme Court order postponing all proceedings under Article 184(3).

However, after the recusal of two judges a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar is now hearing the PTI plea.

On Friday, the government’s request to form a full court was also rejected by the court, deepening the ongoing crisis as the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has rejected the bench.