Terming the move as ‘unconstitutional’, Bandial said that Suri’s ruling is, prima facie, a violation of Article 95
File image of former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan. AP
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial on Thursday said that National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri’s ruling which dismissed the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan was inaccurate.
Terming the move as “unconstitutional”, Bandial said that Suri’s ruling is, prima facie, a violation of Article 95.
As per news agency Tribune, the Supreme Court bench resumed hearing of the suo motu case against the ruling issued by the deputy speaker of the National Assembly that resulted in the dissolution of the Assembly and a subsequent constitutional crisis.
The case is being heard by a five-member bench headed by Bandial and includes Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan.
In anticipation of an verdict, security has been beefed up at the Supreme Court premises. Television footage showed riot police deployed outside the apex court, Pakistan’s news agency Dawn said in a report.
Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan said he was not defending the ruling but he thinks that new elections were the only solution. He said, “Everyone needs to be loyal to the state.”
‘Can’t give details of national security committee in open courtroom’
According to Dawn’s report, the AGP — who was the last to give his arguments — began by informing the court that he would not be able to give details of the recent meeting of the National Security Committee in an open courtroom. He asserted that the court could issue an order without questioning anyone’s loyalty.
He argued that prime minister was the “biggest stakeholder” and, therefore, had the power to dissolve the NA. “The prime minister does not need to give reasons for dissolving the assembly,” the AGP contended.
Punjab Assembly session
As per Dawn, at the outset of the hearing, Punjab Advocate General Ahmed Awais brought the court’s attention to the mock Punjab Assembly session held by the Opposition on Wednesday where PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz was declared the new chief minister of the province.
He said that former Punjab governor Chaudhry Sarwar would administer the oath to Hamza at a ceremony at Bagh-i-Jinnah, adding that the PML-N leader had also called a meeting of bureaucrats for today. He contended that the Constitution was a “trivial matter” for the PML-N.
However, the CJP asserted that the apex court would not give any orders regarding the situation in Punjab and advised the counsel to take the matter to the high court, Dawn said.
Minutes of parliamentary committee on national security
The lawyer representing the National Assembly speaker submitted minutes of the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security as well, Tribune reported.
Naeem Bukhari, who is representing the speaker and deputy speaker, said the Parliamentary Committee on National Security was briefed on the ‘threat letter’. He added that the committee was told that the letter warned of grave consequences in case of the failure of the no-trust vote.
As per the record, only 11 people attended the parliamentary committee’s meeting, Justice Bandial said. Justice Ijazul Ahsan asked who briefed the committee. “The names of those who briefed the committee are not included in the minutes,” the CJ said.
“Was the foreign minister part of the meeting,” the court asked. “We sent a notice,” the lawyer representing the committee replied. “Was he there,” asked the court again.
“It seems the foreign minister was not present in the meeting,” the lawyer responded. The court said the national security adviser’s name was also not in the minutes.
The joint Opposition has also prepared a petition to cancel the ruling of the deputy speakers under which the National Assembly session was adjourned for an indefinite period as Suri cancelled the voting on the no-confidence motion, terming it “unconstitutional”, reported Geo News.
According to the petition prepared by the joint Opposition, the speaker should be directed to convene the session today as “the deputy speaker cannot adjourn the session as it is unconstitutional.”
Furthermore, the Opposition has filed a petition against President Arif Alvi, PM Imran Khan, Speaker NA Asad Qaiser and Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri for violating the Constitution.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has also filed a petition in the Supreme Court on the constitutional crisis, reported Geo News.
The constitutional petition filed by SCBA states that a voting of no-confidence motion was a must, and the speaker cannot cancel the voting by a ruling.
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