Quashing Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri’s April 3 ruling and the subsequent dissolution of the National Assembly, Pakistan’s Supreme Court Thursday ordered the revival of the no-confidence motion against embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Imran Khan will now face the no-trust motion on Saturday (April 9).
Chief Justice Bandial, who is heading a five-member bench comprising Justices Ijazul Ahsan, Mohammad Ali Mazhar Miankhel, Munib Akhtar and Jamal Khan Mandokhel, declared as unconstitutional the controversial ruling by the Deputy Speaker regarding the rejection of the no-confidence motion in Parliament.
In a unanimous verdict, the five-member bench also declared dissolution of the National Assembly as unconstitutional. The court ordered the Speaker to call the session of the Assembly on April 9 at 10 a.m. local time to organise the no-confidence vote.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s election commission said on Thursday that it cannot hold snap polls within 90 days, as requested by the president, and the earliest it could do so was October. “The Election Commission though fully committed to hold elections would however require at least four additional months,” the commission’s statement said, according to a Reuters report.
