Pakistan: SC ruling on deputy speaker’s action

Justice Munib Akhtar observed that, under the rules of the House, the deputy speaker went beyond his jurisdiction by issuing the ruling on the no-trust motion.

CJP Bandial, who was presiding over a five-judge larger bench which had taken up suo motu notice of the matter, as well as a number of petitions filed by various parties, observed that the question of illegality in the filing of the no-trust motion could have been addressed earlier, but once the leave of the house was granted meant the stage of raising objections had passed.

The CJP asked as to why opposition members failed to attend the meeting of the parliamentary committee on national security, during which contents of the 'threat letter' were shared with parliamentarians.

Former law minister Senator Farooq H Naek, representing the PPP, PML-N and JUI-F in a joint petition, highlighted the urgency of the matter and requested the court to wrap up the case on Monday since President Dr Arif Alvi had issued a notification requiring Imran Khan to continue as interim prime minister under Article 224A(4) of the Constitution.

However, the case was adjourned until Tuesday, when PPP Senator Raza Rabbani and senior counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan will present their arguments and the court is likely to announce its decision.

On Mar 25, the deputy speaker summoned the session and adjourned it till Mar 28 when the no-trust motion was submitted and leave was granted by the deputy speaker and voting on the motion was fixed for Apr 3.