President Dr. Arif Alvi Sunday dissolved the National Assembly, the lower house of Pakistan’s Parliament, on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s advice under Article 58 of the Constitution abd hours later the highest court of the country took notice of the no-trust proceedings in the Parliament and said all governmental actions are subject to court orders.
The presidential order follows the National Assembly Speaker’s rejection of the Opposition’s no-confidence motion in the House.
The Supreme Court. in an unsual development, took a suo moto notice of the NA speaker’s dismissal of the no-trust move and is set to start hearing the government and Opposition parties on Monday.
Imran Khan, who has now been officially denotified as the head of the government, told his supporters that they should now prepare for National Assembly elections in the next 90 days.
The opposition leaders including the Pakistan Muslim League (N) of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan People’s Party chair Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and president Asif Zardari, called it a violation of the constitution and a coup against the system.
The presidential statement read: “The president of Pakistan, Dr. Arif Alvi, has approved the advice of the prime minister of Pakistan to dissolve the National Assembly under Article 58 (1) read with Article 48(1) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”
Immediately after the dismissal of the no-trust move Prime Minister Imran, in an address to the nation, said he had advised the president to “dissolve assemblies”.
Article 58 of the Constitution says, “the president shall dissolve the National Assembly if so advised by the prime minister; and the National Assembly shall, unless sooner dissolved, stand dissolved at the expiration of forty-eight hours after the prime minister has so advised.”
National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, who was chairing National Assembly’s session, dismissed the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, accepting Law Minister Fawad Chaudhry’s allegation that the move was orchestrated at the behest of a foreign power’s interference in the country’s internal affairs.
The law minister contended that the move to oust the prime minister constituted a contradiction of Article 5 of the Constitution, which says loyalty to the state is the basic duty of every citizen.
The Khan Government claimed that the no-trust motion against the premier was a “foreign-funded conspiracy”, citing an alleged written communication received from a Pakistani diplomat.
Initially, the Government had avoided naming the country but, in a speech, Imran Khan said the alleged communication came through the Pakistani ambassador to the United States.
Washington has firmly denied Khan’s claims, saying no government official ever sent any such letter. The State Department has said there is no truth in the allegations as claimed by the Khan Government.
Spokesperson Ned Price rejected the allegation of US involvement in Pakistan’s domestic politics.
“We are closely following developments in Pakistan we respect and support Pakistan’s constitutional process and rule of law. However, when it comes to that allegation, there is no truth to it,” the spokesperson said.
Pakistan’s powerful military, meanwhile, has distanced itself from the unfolding political developments in the country. “Army has nothing to do with the political process,” Major General Babar Iftikhar, the head of the military’s public relations wing, said.
But now all eyes are on set on the Supreme Court, and it is not clear at this stage how far the judges could widen the case before passing a judgment on the high-stakes case.
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