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Following the government’s tactics to postpone voting on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, a larger bench of Pakistan’s Supreme Court is slated to hear the case.
The case is set to be heard by the Supreme Court’s five-member bigger bench, which is led by Justice Bandial and includes Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Aijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) late Saturday night petitioned the Supreme Court for the enforcement of its April 7 order.
“As a result of the abovementioned order of this August Court, the National Assembly has been summoned to assemble on April 9, 2022.” However, on that date, the Speaker of the National Assembly, and in his absence, Mr Amjad Ali Khan (Chairperson), failed to carry out the ruling of this August Court in Suo Moto Case No. 01 of 2022. Specifically, instead of voting on the move for a vote of no-confidence against the Prime Minister, the Speaker and Chairperson held a discussion on the issue. “It is worth noting that a vote of no-confidence against the Prime Minister was on the agenda of the National Assembly on March 31, 2022, as represented by the Order of the Day for that date,” read the petition.
The SCBA argued in its petition that by not holding the vote on the no-confidence motion, the “speaker, deputy speaker, and chairpersons from the PTI were “determined to frustrate” the top court’s ruling.
The SCBA has requested that the court “restrain the speaker, deputy speaker, and chairpersons/chairwoman, namely, Amjad Ali Khan, Munaza Hassan, and Imran Khattak, from chairing the meeting and/or acting as the speaker in the current Session being held to implement” the court’s orders on the no-confidence motion.
The lawyer’s group has also petitioned the Supreme Court to order the secretary of the National Assembly to convene a session of Parliament chaired by MNAs who are not members of the PTI.
It has also asked the court to “restrain the prime minister or the Federal Government from passing any order” that would be in violation of the court’s April 7 judgement.
“Restrain the President of Pakistan from acting in accordance with any advice offered by the Prime Minister or the Cabinet until the order of this August Court dated 07-04-2022 is completely implemented and complied with,” the petition read. It has also asked the court to “command all state functionaries” to assist in carrying out the injunction.
“Restrain all State Functionaries from taking any extra-constitutional measures that are contrary to the principles laid out in this Court’s judgement in the case of Sindh High Court Bar Association vs. Federation of Pakistan etc., reported as PLD 2009 SC 879; Any other order that this August Court deems appropriate, under the circumstances,” the plea concludes.
On April 3, NA Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri dismissed the no-confidence resolution, and on the advice of the premier, President Arif Alvi dissolved the lower house of parliament – essentially losing the majority in the NA.
Nonetheless, despite the government’s efforts to reject the no-confidence motion against the prime minister, the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of the matter and overturned all of the decisions.
On April 7, the Supreme Court of Pakistan reinstated the National Assembly after declaring the government’s move to dissolve the assembly and Suri’s judgement to be unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court had directed Speaker Qasier to convene the session on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. to enable for a vote on the no-confidence motion against the premier.
However, the decision has yet to be executed.
