Pakistan spy chiefs brief Supreme Court judges on security ahead of Punjab polls

The heads of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI) on Monday (17) briefed Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and two other top judges on the security issues facing Pakistan.

The meeting, which lasted for more than three hours came amid a tussle between the government and the apex court over holding snap elections in the politically crucial Punjab province.

It took place in the chamber of Chief Justice Bandial, the Express Tribune newspaper reported on Tuesday (18).

The two top spymasters - ISI chief Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum and MI Chief Major General Wajid Aziz - briefed Chief Justice Bandial on the security issues confronting the country, it said.

A three-judge bench - led by the chief justice and comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan - on April 4 declared as “unconstitutional” the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision to postpone the election for the Punjab Assembly and ordered it to hold polls in the province on May 14.

On March 22, the ECP delayed the provincial assembly election by more than five months, citing a deteriorating security situation in the cash-starved country.

The same bench on April 14 ordered the State Bank of Pakistan to release Rs 21 billion (£60 million) to the ECP for holding elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and send an “appropriate communication” to this effect to the finance ministry by April 17.

At an earlier hearing, Defence Secretary, Former Lt Gen Hamood Uz Zaman, requested the bench to get an in-camera briefing on security issues. But the bench had asked him to first submit a classified report.

“It seems that these officials directly shared with the judges the reasons why the Army troops could not be made available for security duty on May 14,” a lawyer told the paper.

It is not clear whether the Supreme Court expressed satisfaction with the briefing. However, the briefing will have far-reaching implications if the judges get convinced that the security situation in the country does not allow the deployment of troops to ensure security during the poll in Punjab.

Holding provincial elections has taken centre stage in Pakistani politics as former prime minister Imran Khan has been pushing for snap elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

(PTI)