The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) has declared the National Assembly (NA) Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s ruling on the dismissal of no-confidence motion against Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan as unconstitutional and illegal.
The session chaired by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and the five-member bench has unanimously ruled that President Dr Arif Alvi’s decision to dissolve the National Assembly is “illegal” and restored Imran Khan as Prime Minister as well as his cabinet ministers. They will now face the no-confidence motion on Saturday April 9th 2022.
“The deputy speaker gave a ruling on April 3. Leave was granted on the no-confidence motion on March 28. The ruling of the speaker is declared unconstitutional,” Justice Bandial declared.
Chief Justice Bandial also said the verdict was announced with an unanimous agreement of 5-0 after the judges consulted each other.
The apex court has also ordered a lower house session to vote on no-trust against PM Khan on April 9th, 2022 [Saturday] at 10 am, saying that the session cannot be adjourned without the conclusion of the no-trust motion and the government cannot interfere in the participation of any Member of National Assembly in the assembly session.
Ahead of the verdict, SC summoned Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja. Prior to the verdict, PM Khan called a party meeting at Banigala.
The short order by the SC is as follows:
