Supreme Court judgment paves way for Constitution’s supremacy

ISLAMABAD: The situation changed every moment in the federal capital on Saturday as the government attempted to delay the proceedings of the no-confidence motion in the National Assembly.

According to the foreign media, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa also called on the outgoing prime minister Imran Khan late Saturday night.

The Supreme Court opened its doors at midnight on the order of Pakistan Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial as the government did not commence voting on the no-confidence motion. But almost minutes to 12am, Asad Qaiser resigned from the NA speaker's post and handed over the proceedings to MNA Ayaz Sadiq.

Earlier, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Saturday night filed a petition in the apex court for the implementation of its order issued on April 7. "In consequence of the order of the court, the National Assembly was summoned to meet on April 9. However, on the date, the Speaker of the National Assembly and in his absence Amjad Ali Khan (Chairperson) failed to implement the order of the court in the suo moto case No. 01 of 2022. Particularly, instead of proceeding with conducting the vote on the motion for a vote of no-confidence against the prime minister, the speaker and the chairperson proceeded to have a discussion on the motion. It is pertinent to mention that discussion on the vote of no-confidence against the prime minister was on the agenda of the National Assembly for March 31, as reflected by the Order of the Day for the date,” said the petition.

The SCBA, in its plea, said that by not holding the vote on the no-confidence motion, the "speaker, the deputy speaker, and the chairpersons belonging to the PTI were bent upon frustrating the top court's order." In its plea, the SCBA prayed the court to "restrain the speaker, deputy speaker, and the chairpersons/chairwoman, namely, Amjad Ali Khan, Munaza Hassan and Imran Khattak from chairing the meeting and/or acting as the speaker in the current session being held to implement the court orders on the no-confidence motion." The lawyers body also appealed to the apex court to direct the secretary of the National Assembly to hold a session of the Parliament, which is chaired by MNAs that are not members of the PTI. It also appealed to the court to "restrain the prime minister or the federal government from passing any order" that may be contrary to the court's April 7 order.

"Restrain the President of Pakistan from acting in pursuance of any advice rendered by the prime minister or the cabinet, till such time the order of this August Court on April 7, is fully implemented and complied with," said the plea. It also urged the court to "direct all state functionaries" to help in the implementation of the order.

"Restrain all state functionaries from taking any extra-constitutional measures which are contrary to the principles laid down in the judgment of this court in the case of Sindh High Court Bar Association vs. Federation of Pakistan etc. reported as PLD 2009 SC 879; Any other order that this August Court deems appropriate, under the circumstances, may also very graciously be passed," concluded the plea.

Meanwhile, security at the Supreme Court of Pakistan and Parliament House was beefed up ahead of the voting in the National Assembly, with deployment of fresh contingent of Rangers and police commandos in the sensitive zone of both buildings. Prisoner vans were also called to shift some authorities to unknown places after the decision of possible hearing of contempt of the court. The vans were called on the request of the sergeant at arms of the Parliament House, sources disclosed. "The authorities issued alerts to authorities at international airport not to allow any government authority to travel abroad without carrying NOC (no-objection certificate),” sources added, saying the military troops had already been deployed at sensitive buildings.

The voting on the no-confidence motion was held after the Supreme Court, on April 7, had ordered the government to hold voting on the motion on Saturday at all costs according to the agenda issued for April 3 session when the deputy speaker rejected the motion through a ruling declaring it "unconstitutional" and a "foreign conspiracy".

The top court’s directives came after Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial had taken suo motu notice of Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s ruling and the subsequent dissolution of the assembly, declaring all the decisions unconstitutional. As per the order of the Supreme Court, voting was to be held at all costs on Saturday and in case the PM was voted out, the election of a new Leader of the House would be held in the same session.