Pakistan Supreme Court staff has been asked by Registrar’s Office to be on alert, according to reports. They have been asked to report when called in an emergency. This message was conveyed to the SC staff on call, sources said.
This development comes at a time when the Opposition seeks to remove Prime Minister Imran Khan through a no-trust vote. The National Assembly (NA) session is presently adjourned and will resume at 10 pm (IST).
The opposition, which needs 172 votes in the 342-member House to topple Imran Khan’s government, is way ahead of the majority mark.
After the National Assembly session resumed following the iftar break, PML(N) Khawaja Asif alleged Prime Minister Imran Khan is “conspiring to impose martial law in the country.”
Imran Khan-led PTI files review petition challenging SC order on deputy speaker’s ruling
Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government on Saturday filed a review petition in the apex court challenging its decision to declare the deputy speaker’s ruling to dismiss the no-trust resolution against the Prime Minister as unconstitutional.
The review petition, filed through Azar Siddique and Dr Babar Awan, named the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), SC Bar Association, Sindh High Court Bar Association and the Sindh Bar Council as respondents.
On Thursday, Pakistan’s Supreme Court unanimously struck down the ruling by National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri on the rejection of the no-confidence motion and ordered the restoration of the NA, saying the prime minister’s move to dissolve Parliament and call early elections was “unconstitutional”.
The review plea argued that the court order, in the absence of any detailed reasons, was not a judicial determination according to Article 184(3) of the Constitution which states that an issue needs to be of public importance if the court has to have jurisdiction on it.
The petition further said that the order has given a “time table to proceed in the National Assembly (NA) which amounts to interfering in the affairs of the house/NA”, which is in violation of the Constitution.