Pak Supreme Court will look into National Assembly dissolution

In a major development amid the ongoing political chaos in Pakistan over the dissolution of the National Assembly by the Imran Khan government, the Pakistan Supreme Court formed a five-member larger bench headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial to decide on the matter. Amid the high political drama, the Supreme Court has taken suo moto notice of the dissolution of the National Assembly by President Arif Alvi on Sunday. The Supreme Court adjourned the hearing on National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar’s ruling to reject the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan on “constitutional” grounds till Monday, local media reported.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial remarked that the judiciary can interfere to some extent in the proceedings of the National Assembly after arguments on the separation of powers between the judiciary and the legislature were advanced.

The court refused to stay the ruling of the Speaker on the rejection of the no-confidence motion.

Notices were also issued to the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the National Assembly, and Deputy Speaker Sadiq Sanjrani who announced the rejection of the no-confidence motion in the National Assembly earlier on Sunday.

Among those who reached the top court were Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan, the members of PTI and the opposition. After the dissolution of the National Assembly, President Supreme Court Bar Ahsan Bhoon called the CJP to take notice of the situation and declare the unconstitutional step null and void. “There is no constitutional justification for dissolution of the Assembly,” he added.