Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial on Thursday said that it was clear that the April 3 ruling of National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri, which dismissed the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, was erroneous, Dawn reported.
“The real question at hand is what happens next,” he said, adding that now the PML-N counsel and the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan would guide the court on how to proceed.
“We have to look at the national interest,” he said, adding that the court would issue a verdict in the day.
He made the remarks as a five-member bench, headed by CJP Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Mandokhel resumed hearing the suo motu case concerning the legality of the deputy speaker’s ruling and the subsequent dissolution of the National Assembly by the president on the PM’s advice.
The AGP — who was the last to give his arguments — began by informing the court that he would not be able to give details of the recent meeting of the National Security Committee in an open courtroom. He asserted that the court could issue an order without questioning anyone’s loyalty, Dawn reported.
He argued that the prime minister was the “biggest stakeholder” and, therefore, had the power to dissolve the National Assembly. “The prime minister does not need to give reasons for dissolving the Assembly,” the AGP contended, the report said.
He also pointed out that the Assembly would stand dissolved if the president did not make a decision on the prime minister’s advice within 48 hours. He argued that voting on the no-confidence motion was not the fundamental right of a lawmaker.