In a unanimous 5-0 verdict, the court annulled the deputy speaker’s ruling
Pakistan’s Supreme Court on April 7 set aside the deputy speaker’s ruling to dismiss the no-trust resolution against Prime Minister Imran and the subsequent dissolution of the National Assembly by the president on the PM’s advice.
The court said both moves were “unconstitutional,” ruling that the speaker call a session on April 9 and hold the vote.
In a unanimous 5-0 verdict against the government, the court said that the deputy speaker’s ruling was “contrary to the Constitution and the law and of no legal effect.”
“The advice tendered by the Prime Minister on or about 03.04.2022 to the President to dissolve the Assembly was contrary to the Constitution and of no legal effect,” the court said in short order.
“It is declared that the Order of the President issued on or about 03.04.2022 dissolving the Assembly was contrary to the Constitution and of no legal effect, and it is hereby set aside. It is further declared that the Assembly was in existence at all times, and continues to remain and be so.”
The National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri disallowed a no-trust vote that would have likely seen Khan’s ouster from office on April 3. He used Article 5 of the constitution, which deals with loyalty to the state, to make his case, saying the motion was unconstitutional because it was part of a “foreign conspiracy.”
As the opposition members hailed the ruling which supports the opposition’s move to oust Khan from office, the PTI members regretted that the Supreme Court overlooked the foreign interference in the internal matters of Pakistan and horse-trading in the National Assembly.
The court’s five-member larger bench was headed by Chief Justice Bandial and comprised Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Aijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel.