Pakistan's apex court seeks record of National Assembly proceedings on no-trust motion

Pakistans Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the record of the proceedings of the National Assembly conducted on the noconfidence motion filed against Prime Minister Imran Khan as it adjourned till Wednesday the hearing of the highprofile caseNational Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri on Sunday ruled that the noconfidence motion was linked with a foreign conspiracy to topple the government and hence was not maintainable Minutes later President Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on advice of Prime Minister KhanThe apex court within hours took suo motu notice of it and a fivemember bench started hearing the case The bench is headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and includes Justice Ijazul Ahsan Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Jamal Khan MandokhailDuring the hearing on Tuesday the court ordered the government to present minutes of the proceedings in the National Assembly after the noconfidence motion was presentedChief Justice Bandial said that the court only wanted to ascertain the constitutionality of the steps taken by the deputy speaker for the dismissal of the noconfidence of motion and subsequent dissolution of the National AssemblyOur sole focus is on the ruling of the deputy speakeriquestit is our priority to decide on that particular issue Chief Justice Bandial was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune newspaperThe apex court wanted to see if the ruling of the deputy speaker could be reviewed by the bench he said adding that the court will merely decide on the legitimacy of the speakers actionWe will ask all parties to focus on this point he addedAs the hearing resumed Pakistan Peoples Party PPP Senator Raza Rabbani and senior counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan presented their arguments before the courtRabbani said that the court had to examine the extent of the immunity of parliamentary proceedings Whatever has happened can only be termed as civilian martial law he saidHe maintained that the speakers ruling was illegal Dawn news reportedThe noconfidence motion cant be dismissed without voting on it he said citing Article 95 of the ConstitutionRabbani also said that a deliberate attempt was made to construct a narrative against the notrust move while a foreign conspiracy was also toutedPMLNs counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan said that the noconfidence motion was submitted to the NA with the signatures of 152 lawmakers while 161 had voted in favour of tabling it After that proceedings were adjourned till March 31As per the rules the counsel pointed out a debate on the notrust move was supposed to be conducted on March 31 But a debate was not held he said adding that voting was also not conducted on April 3After their arguments the bench adjourned the hearing till WednesdayOpposition lawyers during the hearing asked the court to issue at the earliest an order to settle the matter regarding the rulingThe bench assured to come up with a verdict after hearing lawyers representing the government and the oppositionIf Khan gets a favourable ruling elections will take place within 90 days If the court rules against the deputy speaker the parliament will reconvene and hold the noconfidence vote against Khan experts saidChief Justice Bandial had said on Monday that all orders and actions initiated by the prime minister and the president regarding the dissolution of the National Assembly will be subject to the courts orderPresident Alvi the Supreme Court Bar Association and all political parties have been made respondents in the caseLawyers from the government and opposition presented their argument regarding the ruling by the deputy speakerChief Justice Bandial had earlier Monday said the court would issue a reasonable order on the issue on MondayThe decision of the court would also determine the legality of the presidential order to dissolve the National Assembly Former judge Shaiq Usmani said that the court would hear all lawyers and it would be a timetaking processI feel there is a lack of strategy and all lawyers of different parties want to argue but there are almost repeating the main arguments he said adding that the opposition parties should have appointed one main lawyer to save timeHe said since the attorney general Khaled Javed Khan has not yet presented his arguments it may take another couple of days before the hearing would be concluded followed by an orderThe prevailing crisis began to unfold after the opposition submitted a noconfidence motion against the Prime Minister on March 8 The voting was scheduled to be held on April 3 but the deputy speaker rejected the motionThe political drama is being staged in the court as well as outside as both Pakistan TehreekiInsaf PTI of Imran Khan and opposition parties have been trying to paint each other as traitorsIn the highly charged political atmosphere the Supreme Court provided a ray of hope to end the impasse as all parties have committed to follow its verdictThis story has been sourced from a third party 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