ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the government for the minutes of a March 31 meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) as it heard a case against the government for blocking the no-confidence vote to oust Prime Minister Imran Khan and subsequently dissolving the National Assembly.
The full bench of five judges has not said when it will give a ruling but it could order parliament to be reconstituted, call for elections or bar Khan from power if he is found to have violated the constitution.
The panel could also decide that it cannot intervene in parliamentary affairs.
During the proceedings, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial asked the lawyer for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, Babar Awan, about the minutes of the meeting of the top security committee which had discussed the letter purportedly showing evidence of a foreign conspiracy to oust the government.
He also asked Awan to inform the court whether the speaker could issue a ruling that was not on the day’s agenda by bypassing Article 95. He told him to defend the ruling with “solid” evidence.
“Where are the minutes of the NSC meeting?” he asked Awan, before asking the counsel about the basis on which Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri exercised his authority.
NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE
The court began on Wednesday hearing Khan’s legal team defend his bid to block an opposition bid to oust him, a move his critics claim was unconstitutional and which has ushered in a new phase of political turmoil.
Khan lost his parliamentary majority last week and had been facing a no-confidence vote tabled by the opposition that he was expected to lose on Sunday.
But the deputy speaker of the National Assembly threw out the motion, ruling it was part of a foreign conspiracy and unconstitutional. Khan then dissolved parliament.
The stand-off has thrown the country into a full-blown constitutional crisis.
The opposition has challenged the decision to block the vote in the Supreme Court, which began deliberating the case on Monday. The court will on Wednesday hear from lawyers for the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party.
The Supreme Court panel of five judges has not said when it will give a ruling. It could order parliament be reconstituted, call for fresh elections or bar Khan from power if he is found to have violated the constitution.
It could also decide that it cannot intervene in parliamentary affairs.
EARLY POLLS
President Arif Alvi upped the ante Tuesday by issuing a letter to the opposition saying if they did not nominate a candidate for interim prime minister, the process would continue without them.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif, who would have replaced Khan had Sunday’s vote taken place, said he would not participate.
“The main issue is that the constitution has been abrogated,” he told reporters outside the court. “If we don’t get a remedy then Pakistan will, God forbid, become a banana republic.”
Khan has already nominated former chief justice Gulzar Ahmad for the role.
The military is facing growing opposition calls to weigh in on the legitimacy of Khan’s complaints about a foreign plot against him, which he said was being orchestrated by the United States.
The United States dismissed the accusation.
PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz said the military should clarify if it had told a top-level security meeting that the United States had conspired with the opposition to topple his government, as Khan has said it did.
“Imran Khan has used the National Security Committee for his political gains,” she declared late on Tuesday.
The military insists it is not involved in politics.
More details to follow
