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Imran's Khan's PTI files plea against Pak Supreme Court order on no-trust vote, he calls cabinet meeting at 9pm PST
The petition has urged the apex court to “review, recall and set aside the impugned order” that was passed on April 7, and said it is based on “errors floating on the surface”.
The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday filed a review petition against the Pakistan Supreme Court's order setting aside national assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri's rejection of a no-trust vote against prime minister Imran Khan. It is not yet clear if the court has agreed to hear the petition. Earlier, while passing the ruling, the Pakistan top court had called Suri's order 'unconstitutional'. The petition seeks a review of that order, which was passed unanimously by a five-judge bench led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, ARY News reported.
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Filed by Babar Awan and advocate Mohammad Azhar Siddique, the petition has named the PML-N, the Supreme Court Bar Association, the PPP, the Sindh Bar Council, and the Sindh High Court Bar Association as respondents, according to Dawn.com.
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The petition has urged the apex court to 'review, recall and set aside the impugned order' that was passed on April 7, and said the order had been based on 'errors floating on the surface'.
The petitioners further argued, as reported by Dawn, that the court's order, in the absence of detailed reasons, was not a judicial determination according to Article 184(3) of Pakistan's Constitution - which states that an issue must hold public value if the court is to have jurisdiction.
"The apex court has erred to appreciate that within the proceedings of the house, the Parliament is sovereign, independent and not amenable to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court or any other court," Dawn reported as the petition saying.
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It also defended Suri's action, stressing that it was meant to enforce Article 5 of the Constitution and therefore, the court's ruling setting it aside needs to be revisited.
Referring to the no-trust vote, the petition said the procedure for the same was elaborately laid down in the Constitution and the top court is therefore 'not entitled to micro-manage the affairs of the Parliament'.
The National Assembly, meanwhile, will resume at 8.30pm PST, and will continue till midnight. Khan has called for a cabinet meeting at 9pm PST, with local media reports saying the no-trust vote against him could be held an hour earlier though there is no clarity following the latest occurrences on the same. The timing of the vote was reportedly decided after an informal understanding between the ruling and opposition parties.
Reports said Khan's PTI is trying to prolong the matter without a vote and is attempting to gather supporters outside Parliament. However, in its ruling, the SC had stated that today's session of the assembly cannot be prorogued till the no-confidence vote is conducted.
