Imran to address Pak again after SC orders no-trust vote on Saturday

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that he would address the nation on Friday evening after the Supreme Court restored the National Assembly on Thursday.

Khan said that a meeting of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s parliamentary committee would also be convened on Friday.

“I have called a cabinet mtg tomorrow as well as our parl party mtg; & tomorrow evening I will address the nation. My message to our nation is I have always & will continue to fight for Pak till the last ball,” Khan said in a tweet. (sic)

I have called a cabinet mtg tomorrow as well as our parl party mtg; & tomorrow evening I will address the nation. My message to our nation is I have always & will continue to fight for Pak till the last ball.

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 7, 2022

Earlier in a big blow to Imran, Pakistan’s Supreme Court struck down National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s controversial move to dismiss a no-confidence motion against Khan on Thursday, in a major blow to the cricketer-turned politician, who will now face a no-trust vote in Parliament after the ruling.

Suri, who is associated with Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, had dismissed the no-confidence motion against the premier on April 3, claiming that it was linked with a “foreign conspiracy” to topple the government and hence was not maintainable. Minutes later, President Ari Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on the advice of Prime Minister Khan, who had effectively lost the majority.

Chief Justice Bandial, who is heading a five-member bench comprising Justices Ijazul Ahsan, Mohammad Ali Mazhar Miankhel, Munib Akhtar and Jamal Khan Mandokhel, declared as unconstitutional the controversial ruling by the deputy speaker regarding the rejection of the no-confidence motion in Parliament.

In a unanimous verdict, the five-member bench also declared dissolution of Parliament unconstitutional.

The bench restored the parliament and declared the advice by Prime Minister Khan to President Alvi to dissolve the Assembly as unconstitutional.

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The court ordered the speaker to call the session of the Assembly on April 9 at 10 am to organize the no-confidence vote.

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 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 Pakistan People’s 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 dissolution of Assembly and announcement of fresh elections.

Shehbaz said how Opposition leaders could 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 could not face even our families after being called traitors.

Also read: Pakistan Opposition holds own session; ‘passes’ no trust motion against PM Khan

Shehbaz was referring to the ruling by the deputy speaker that the no-confidence motion was linked with a so-called “foreign conspiracy”.

With the court ruling against the deputy speaker, Parliament is likely to reconvene and hold the no-confidence vote against Khan.

(With inputs from Agencies)