Supreme Court to Announce Verdict on Constitutional Crisis Case at 7 PM

The Supreme Court (SC) has reserved the verdict on suo motu notice on the National Assembly (NA) Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri’s rejection of the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday, after five consecutive days of deliberation on the matter.

The verdict will be announced by the Supreme Court after 7:00 PM, today, confirmed Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial. He added that the court will move forward only after seeing national interest and practical possibilities. However, the CJP remarked that apparently NA Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s ruling is, prima facie, a violation of Article 95 of the Constitution of Pakistan.

The apex court’s five-member larger bench, which is headed by Justice Bandial and comprises of Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Aijaz-ul-Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, is hearing the case.

Justice Aijaz-ul-Ahsan had pointed out that the Prime Minister had dissolved the Assembly, taking into account, the benefit of the situation. “Had not the assembly dissolved, the House could nullify the ruling of the deputy speaker,” he added.

Meanwhile. Imtiaz Siddiqui, the counsel for Prime Minister Imran Khan, contended the deputy speaker had relied on the National Security Committee. “The House proceedings are beyond the power of the judiciary. The court should order the parliament to clean its filth,” he told the court.

The apex court was presented with the meeting minutes of the Parliamentary Committee for National Security. The committee was briefed that consequences will not be good if the no-confidence vote succeeds, while General Khalid Javed Khan contended that all the proceedings, including the no-confidence motion, are carried out as per law.

“The court should decide to which extent the parliamentary proceedings can be reviewed,” he said, while adding that he is not defending the ruling and he is concerned about the new elections. Chief Justice of Pakistan Atta Bandial remarked that the court wants to hear the attorney general about the real issue of the dissolution of the Assembly.

Meanwhile, Ali Zafar, the counsel for President Arif Alvi, contended that the constitution can only be defended as per the Constitution. “The parliament cannot interfere in the matters of the judiciary and the judiciary cannot interfere in the matters of the parliament,” he added.

The Supreme Court (SC) has reserved its verdict in the case and it will be announced today at 7:30PM. However, the court has remarked that deputy speaker Qasim Suri’s ruling is wrong as it violated Article 95 of the Pakistan Constitution.

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