Pakistan President Arif Alvi had earlier dissolved the National Assembly on the advice of Prime Minister Imran Khan. (file)
Islamabad:
Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Sunday barred all state institutions from taking any “unconstitutional” step after the President rejected a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan in the National Assembly and dissolved the House on the advice of the President. Gave. Tangled Premiere.
Chief Justice Omar Ata Bandiyal said all orders and actions initiated by the Prime Minister and the President regarding the dissolution of the National Assembly would be subject to court orders as he adjourned the hearing of the high-profile case for a day.
Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi had earlier dissolved the National Assembly (NA) on the advice of Prime Minister Imran Khan, minutes after Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri rejected a no-confidence motion against the premier, who had served in the 342-member House. The lower house had effectively lost a majority. Parliament.
Chief Justice Bandiyal took cognizance of the political situation and a three-member bench held preliminary hearings despite the weekend and issued notices to all the respondents, including President Alvi and NA’s vice-chairman, Mr. Suri.
The court ordered all parties not to take any “unconstitutional” measures and adjourned the hearing till Monday.
Chief Justice Bandiyal said that all orders and actions initiated by the Prime Minister and the President in relation to the dissolution of the NA shall be subject to the orders of the court.
Former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said the decision given in the deputy speaker of the National Assembly to dismiss the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Khan was “final” and could not be challenged in any court.
Speaking to the media outside the Supreme Court, Mr Khan’s close aide said the NA’s deputy speaker’s decision came after the constitutional process on the no-confidence motion was completed.
Earlier, the opposition had sought the Supreme Court’s intervention and the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Shahbaz Sharif announced his party’s decision to challenge the dissolution of the NA.
“We are going to challenge the Deputy Speaker’s decision and the Prime Minister’s advice in the Supreme Court,” he said.
Supreme Court Bar President Ahsan Bhun said the actions of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Speaker were against the Constitution and “they should be tried for treason under Article 6 of the Constitution.”
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has also filed a petition asking the court to dissolve the parliament as well as declare the deputy speaker’s decision unconstitutional.
The crisis erupted after Mr Suri rejected a no-confidence motion, prompting Prime Minister Khan to send an advice to the country’s president to dissolve parliament, which he could not do until a no-confidence vote resulted.
Prominent constitutional counsel Salman Akram Raja said that “the entire purchase made by the deputy speaker and the premier’s advice to dissolve the assembly was unconstitutional.”
He said that the entire dispute will be decided by the Supreme Court.
“The core issue is determining the validity of the decision by the deputy speaker. If the apex court says that the decision is in accordance with the laws, then the advice of the prime minister will also be in accordance with the law,” he said.
Mr Raja said the illegality of the ruling would also make the advice illegal as the prime minister cannot advise the assembly after a no-confidence motion is moved against him in Parliament.
Eminent Indian lawyer and former minister Abhishek Manu Singhvi said Imran Khan’s move was “constitutionally wrong”.
“No sep spkr power in any common law system 2natl sec reject no confidence motion! Just no jurisdiction (2) sc probable 2 strike down and direct fresh no-confidence tamarind (3) sc cg umar bandiyal, cambridge, bats In 2me known directly (4) Dissolution by Imran is also unacceptable as no #PM can already dissolve minority and such advice is not binding (5) cji #bandiyal, with whom I have been in touch for 4 decades No, struck me as calm, balanced, knowledgeable and unaffected hence likely to strike,” Mr Singhvi tweeted listing some of the key points on the issue.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)