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Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, while hearing a petition on whether Imran Khan and his allies had the legal right to dissolve parliament, Thursday said the April 3 ruling of National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri to dismiss the no-confidence motion against the former Prime Minister, was erroneous, according to a report by Pakistani newspaper Dawn.
Chief Justice Bandial noted that Suri’s move to dismiss a no-trust motion against Khan through a controversial ruling is, prima facie, a violation of Article 95 of the Constitution. “The real question at hand is what happens next,” he was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.
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The remarks came as a five-member bench, headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, took up the case around 9.30 am Thursday. Senator Ali Zafar, representing the President Arif Alvi, was asked by the Bench as to whether the prime minister was the people’s representative and if the “Parliament was not a guardian of the Constitution”.
The Supreme Court asked the President’s lawyer as to how could there be a constitutional crisis if everything was happening according to the law of the land.
The CJP also asked whether the formation of the federal government was an “internal matter” of the Parliament.
The Pakistan Supreme Court will announce its verdict in the case on Thursday evening, CJP Bandial said.
The Supreme Court had on Monday heard arguments both from Khan’s legal team and his allies, and also the opposition, but then adjourned the session. The apex court on Wednesday sought the minutes of the National Security Council meeting to know more about the alleged “foreign conspiracy” as it delayed its verdict on whether Prime Minister Khan had violated the Constitution by dissolving Parliament rather than face a no-confidence vote.
National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri on Sunday ruled that the no-confidence motion was linked with the “foreign conspiracy” to topple the government and hence was not maintainable. Minutes later, President Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on the advice of Prime Minister Khan.
If Khan gets a favourable ruling, elections will take place within 90 days. If the court rules against the deputy speaker, Parliament will reconvene and hold the no-confidence vote against Khan, experts said.
The prevailing crisis began to unfold after the opposition submitted a no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister on March 28. The voting was scheduled to be held on April 3 but the deputy speaker rejected the motion, saying it was part of a “conspiracy” to topple an elected government.
Chief Justice Bandial has said that all orders and actions initiated by the prime minister and the president regarding the dissolution of the National Assembly will be subject to the court’s order.
