The ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition is set to up the ante against superior judiciary as it has initiated deliberations to move a reference or references against the Supreme Court judges with the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) "on the ground of misconduct", in the forthcoming days.
A special parliamentary committee held its first meeting on Wednesday, after having appointed Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha as the chairman.
The body reached consensus on seeking expert opinion from the minister for law & justice, minister for parliamentary affairs and the Attorney General for Pakistan.
These legal wizards would brief the committee on how to proceed with the matter under the ambit of the law and the Constitution.
The committee will soon meet for a second time to discuss the pros and cons for the reference, said a member of the committee.
It is important to note here that there is no proper constitutional mechanism available at present to bring the ongoing conflict to a logical end.
Both the parliamentary and the judicial sides enjoy due powers; a factor that makes the situation complex.
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The rift between lawmakers and judiciary widened as on May 15, Parliament adopted a motion seeking a judicial reference against the SC judges.
The elected representatives sought a special committee to approach the SJC against the judges for their alleged misconduct.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, while addressing the National Assembly, had also demanded a probe into judiciary’s 'undue support to a specific person', in an apparent reference to PTI chairman Imran Khan.
The alliance of ruling parties recently passed back-to-back three resolutions to defend the parliament's jurisdiction.
Simultaneously, the PDM staged a protest in front of the Supreme Court, warning against any contempt proceedings targeting the premier.
In another recent development, the apex court had asked NA to share the records of house proceedings pertaining to limited the powers of the Chief Justice.