ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court on Sunday rejected a request to suspendthe National Assembly (NA) Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s ruling anddirected the Attorney General for Pakistan to submit it on Monday.
A three-member bench of the apex court comprising Chief Justice UmarAta Bandial, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Mohammad Ali Mazharheard the suo moto notice case on the current situation in the countryfollowing the dismissal of a no-confidence motion against PrimeMinister Imran Khan by the NA Deputy Speaker and the subsequentdissolution of the NA by President Arif Alvi.
During the course of proceedings, Chief Justice Bandial said that allorders and actions initiated by the prime minister and the presidentregarding the dissolution of the National Assembly would be subject tothe court’s order.
The chief justice said the law and order situation in the countryshould not deteriorate, instructing all political parties to actresponsibly.
He said that no unconstitutional step should be taken by any stateinstitution and that no one should try to take advantage of thesituation. Public order should be maintained, he added.
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He said that the court did not want to drag the hearing on account ofRamazan and that notices should be issued to all the politicalparties.He also ordered the interior and defence secretaries to brief thecourt on the law and order situation.
The chief justice ordered that the PPP’s request be accepted and saidthe court would review the deputy speaker’s actions. The court,however, rejected a request to suspend the deputy speaker’s ruling.Justice Bandial remarked that President Arif Alvi should be made arespondent in the case since it was an important matter.
The court issued notices to Attorney General Khalid Khalid Jawed Khan,the speaker, deputy speaker, defence secretary, interior secretary,all political parties and adjourned the case’s hearing till Monday.
