Pak's apex court seeks minutes of NSC meeting; adjourns hearing till Thursday

Pakistans Supreme Court on Wednesday sought minutes of the National Security Council meeting to know more about the alleged foreign conspiracy as it adjourned till Thursday the hearing of the crucial case about rejection of the noconfidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan through a controversial ruling by the deputy speaker of the National AssemblyNational Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri on Sunday ruled that the noconfidence motion was linked with the foreign conspiracy to topple the government and hence was not maintainable Minutes later President Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on advice of Prime Minister KhanThe apex court within hours took suo motu notice of it and a fivemember bench started hearing the case on Monday The bench is headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and includes Justice Ijazul Ahsan Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Jamal Khan MandokhailDuring the third day of the hearing on Wednesday Babar Awan appeared for Pakistan TehreekeInsaf PTI party and Ali Zafar represented President AlviChief Justice Bandial asked Awan about the minutes of the recent meeting of the National Security Council which had discussed a letter purportedly showing evidence of the foreign conspiracy to oust the PTIled governmentDuring the hearing Justice Bandial questioned the basis on which the speaker issued the ruling Dawn newspaper reportedCan the speaker announce such a ruling without presenting the facts he asked adding that this was the constitutional point on which the court had to make a decisionHe also asked Awan to inform the court whether the speaker could issue a ruling that was not on the days agenda by bypassing Article 95 He told the PTI counsel to defend the ruling with solid evidenceWhere are the minutes of the NSC meeting he asked Awan We want to see what the conspiracy was that was used to dismiss the motionHe said that the court would also examine whether the speaker had the authority to deviate from the agenda of the house and rely on some other factsWhether there was such material presentiquestwhen did the meeting of the NSC take place Justice Bandial went on to ask and said Awan also needed to tell the court if a constitutional process could be sidelinedAfter Awan Zafar began his arguments insisting that any direction from the court on the matter of the deputy speakers ruling would exceed its jurisdictionPakistan Peoples Party lawyer Raza Rabbani and Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan have already completed argumentsHowever Naeem Bokhari counsel of deputy speaker Qasim Suri and Attorney General Khaled Javed Khan representing the government are among the lawyers who have not yet presented their views on the caseDuring the hearing on Wednesday the chief justice repeatedly reminded the lawyers to conclude their arguments at the earliest to let the bench issue an orderHowever since the process was not completed the court adjourned the case till Thursday while announcing to resume the hearing at 930am local time A short order may be issued at the conclusion of the argumentsEarlier the opposition lawyers during the hearing had asked the court to issue at the earliest an order to settle the matter regarding the rulingThe bench assured to come up with a verdict after hearing lawyers representing the government and the oppositionThe outcome will not only decide the fate of noconfidence but also the dissolution of the National Assembly and the upcoming electionsIf Khan gets a favourable ruling elections will take place within 90 days If the court rules against the deputy speaker Parliament will reconvene and hold the noconfidence vote against Khan experts saidThe prevailing crisis began to unfold after the opposition submitted a noconfidence motion against the Prime Minister on March 8 The voting was scheduled to be held on April 3 but the deputy speaker rejected the motion saying it was part of a iquestconspiracyiquest to topple an elected governmentThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever