Islamabad: Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday struck down National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri's controversial move to dismiss a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, in a major blow to the cricketer-turned-politician who will now face a no-trust vote in Parliament after the ruling.
Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial led the five-judge bench late Thursday and announced the major verdict on the suo moto case concerning the legality of the National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri's move to dismiss a no-confidence motion against embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan through a controversial ruling.
Suri, who is associated with Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, on April 3 dismissed the no-confidence motion against the premier claiming that it was linked with a "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 who had effectively lost the majority.
The country's apex court ruled that president Alvi's decision to dissolve the National Assembly was "illegal" and restored PM Khan's as well as his cabinet. The supreme court has ordered for the session of the National Assembly to reconvene on Saturday, April 9, at 10 am (10:30 am IST). The court ruled that the session cannot be adjourned without the conclusion of the no-trust motion against Imran Khan.
"The deputy speaker gave a ruling on April 3. Leave was granted on the no-confidence motion on March 28. The ruling of the speaker is declared unconstitutional," Justice Bandial declared, reported Dawn. The verdict was announced with a unanimous agreement of 5-0 after the judges consulted each other. Earlier, Chief Justice Bandial has already noted that deputy speaker Suri's move to dismiss a no-confidence motion against Khan was, prima facie, erroneous and a violation of Article 95 of the Constitution as the apex court heard the high-profile case for the fourth day.
Security in and around the apex court was beefed up. Riot police forces were deployed outside the court building. During the hearing, Chief Justice Bandial noted deputy speaker's ruling is, prima facie, a violation of Article 95. Various lawyers appeared in the apex court to plead in the complex case. Naeem Bokhari represented deputy speaker Suri, Imtiaz Siddiqui appeared for Prime Minister Khan, Ali Zafar represented President Alvi and Attorney General Khaled Javed Khan represented the government.
Babar Awan appeared on behalf of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, Raza Rabbani for the Pakistan Peoples Party and Makhdoom Ali Khan for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Apart from leading lawyers representing various parties, the court also called at the rostrum Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president and main opposition leader, and asked about his view on the way forward in the wake of uncertainty due to the dissolution of the assembly and the announcement of fresh elections.
Shehbaz said how the opposition leaders can take part in the election after being labelled as "traitors". He left it to the court to decide but urged that rule of law should be adhered to and added that we cannot face even our families after being called traitors. He was referring to the ruling by the deputy speaker that the no-confidence motion was linked with a so-called "foreign conspiracy".
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