Opp moves court as Imran calls for polls; SC bars State institutions from taking ‘illegal’ steps
Pakistan’s beleaguered Prime Minister Imran Khan bowled a yorker at his rivals on Sunday by getting the presidential nod for the dissolution of Parliament, a move dubbed as “unconstitutional” by the Opposition parties which approached the apex court to legally challenge the decision which has pushed the coup-prone country into further political and constitutional crisis.
Later in the day Pakistan’s Supreme Court barred all State institutions from taking any “unconstitutional” steps after the dismissal of the no-confidence vote in the National Assembly against Imran Khan and the subsequent approval of the President to dissolve the House at the advice of the embattled premier.
Khan was widely expected to lose the no-confidence motion moved by an alliance of Opposition politicians in the National Assembly — including more than a dozen defectors from his own political party. But in a surprise reprieve for the 69-year-old cricketer-turned-politician, the no-trust vote was dismissed as “unconstitutional” by Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, leading to vociferous protests by the Opposition.
Khan, who had effectively lost majority in the 342-member National Assembly, made a brief address to the nation in which he said he has recommended dissolution of the House and sought fresh elections. Khan, head of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, congratulated the nation for the no-trust motion being dismissed, saying the Deputy Speaker had “rejected the attempt of changing the regime (and) the foreign conspiracy”.
However, later in the day Pakistan’s Supreme Court barred all State institutions from taking any “unconstitutional” steps after the dismissal of the no-confidence vote in the National Assembly against Khan and the subsequent approval of the President to dissolve the House at the advice of the embattled premier.
Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial 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 as he adjourned for one day the hearing of the high-profile case.
Pakistan President Arif Alvi had dissolved the National Assembly on advice of Khan, minutes after Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri rejected a no-confidence motion against the premier, who had effectively lost the majority in the 342-member Lower House of Parliament.