National April 18, 2021 SLAMABAD: The Supreme Court and not the federal government is the final authority that will decide the fate of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) after a reference is submitted to the court by the government. When contacted, prominent lawyer Kashif Malik told The News that empowering the Supreme Court to conclusively decide a reference under Article 17(2) of the Constitution gives protection to the political parties so that they would not stand dissolved on a mere executive order but only after the judgment of the highest judicial forum. The judgments of the apex court on previous such references have been varied. In 1964, the Supreme Court had set aside [PLD 1964 SC 673] the ban imposed on the Jamaat-e-Islami by President Ayub Khan. Twelve years later in 1976, the apex court had upheld [PLD 1976 SC 57] the ban on the National Awami Party (NAP) of Khan Abdul Wali Khan ordered by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.