Pakistan Supreme Court adjourns hearing on no-trust vote rejection till Monday

Islamabad [Pakistan], April 3 (ANI): The Pakistan Supreme Court has 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.
Earlier today, the Supreme Court had also taken suo moto cognizance of the dissolution of the National Assembly by President Arif Alvi.
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 today.
Among those who reached the top court were Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan, members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and the Opposition, reported ARY News.
National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, who was chairing today's session, dismissed the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government, terming it a contradiction of Article 5 of the Constitution.
This was followed by an address to the nation by Prime Minister Imran Khan in which he announced that he had advised President Arif Alvi to dissolve the National Assembly of Pakistan and call for fresh elections.
After the dissolution of the National Assembly, President Supreme Court Bar Ahsan Bhoon called on the Chief Justice of Pakistan 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.
The Supreme Court formed a five-member larger bench headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan over the situation in the National Assembly on Sunday.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that Imran Khan's advice to President to dissolve National Assembly is a violation of the Constitution.
Lashing out at the Deputy Speaker, he said, "He has done unconstitutional thing at the last moment. He broke the Constitution of Pakistan. The no-trust vote had to take place today as per the Constitution."
Imran Khan has seemingly lost support both in the Lower House of the legislature and the backing of the all-powerful Pakistan Army.
The opposition party had moved the no-trust motion against the PM on March 8. Imran Khan received a massive blow when the PTI "lost the majority" in the National Assembly after losing its key ally in the coalition Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P). The MQM announced that it had struck a deal with the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and would support the no-trust vote in the 342-member National Assembly. (ANI)