Muristek
Pakistan crisis: Supreme Court adjourns case by a day, CJ says will deliver 'reasonable order'
New Delhi, April 4
The Pakistan Supreme Court on Monday adjourned by a day the hearing on the dismissal of the Opposition's no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan by the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and the subsequent dissolution of Parliament by President Arif Alvi.
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Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial said the court would give a "reasonable order". Justice Bandial observed that a debate before voting on the no-confidence motion had been clearly mentioned in the law, but didn't take place.
After a brief hearing on Sunday, the court had said it would like to "examine whether such an action (dismissal of the no-trust motion on the basis of Article 5) was protected by the ouster (removal from the court's jurisdiction) contained in Article 69 of the Constitution".
The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has proposed the nomination of former Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed as the caretaker Prime Minister. The nomination was made after Alvi wrote to Imran Khan and Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif to propose names for appointment of a caretaker premier.
The names were to be forwarded to a panel to be constituted by the Speaker, comprising eight parliamentarians drawn equally from the treasury and the opposition. But Shehbaz, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader, has withdrawn from the process, which, he said, "was illegal as the President and the PM had broken the law".
PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who was at the press conference with Shehbaz, said the process of appointing and ousting the premier could not be "jumped".
On Sunday, National Assembly's Deputy Seaker had disallowed a no-trust confidence motion against Imran Khan and, a few minutes later, Alvi dissolved the House.