Khan nominates acting PM, SC adjourns hearing
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister and ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Monday nominated former chief justice Gulzar Ahmed as the caretaker prime minister a day after the country went into a political crisis after dismissal of a no-confidence motion against Khan and the subsequent dissolution of parliament by the president.
The announcement was made by minister for information and broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry. He said the decision was made after approval from the PTI’s core committee, according to Dawn newspaper.
Gulzar Ahmed’s nomination follows a letter written earlier today by President Dr Arif Alvi to the prime minister and Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif to propose names of suitable persons for appointment as caretaker premier under Article 224-A(1 )of the Constitution, the Pakistani newspaper reported.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan’s Supreme Court adjourned the hearing by a day in the Sunday saga.There was no immediate explanation for the adjournment and it was also unclear when a ruling would come.
A larger bench of the Supreme Court - comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justhe tice Jamal Khan Mandokhail took action after Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri rejected the move to dislodge the prime minister by declaring the no-trust motion unmaintainable due to its link with a so-called foreign conspiracy.
Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, however, said that a “reasonable order” would be issued on the legality of the current political situation in the country.
During the hearing, the court rejected a plea by Farooq H Naek, who is representing the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and other Opposition parties, to form a full court bench to hear the matter, the Dawn newspaper reported.
The CJP asked Naek if he had objections to any judge on the five-member bench.
Naek said that he had full confidence in all judges on the bench.
Justice Bandial said forming a full court bench would impede proceedings of other cases.
President Arif Alvi, the Supreme Court Bar Association and all political parties have been made respondents in the case. Lawyers from the government and opposition presented their argument regarding the ruling by the deputy speaker. During the arguments, the chief justice rejected the opposition’s plea for a full bench.
“The court will hear all representatives of the parties before concluding the hearing,” the chief justice said during the hearing. Later, the court adjourned the case until 12pm on Tuesday.
President Alvi had dissolved the National Assembly (NA) on the advice of Prime Minister Khan, minutes after deputy speaker Qasim Suri rejected a no-confidence motion against
premier, who had effectively lost the majority in the 342member lower house of Parliament.
Soon after, the president issued the official notification dissolving the National Assembly, PTI leaders said elections would be held in 90 days and that Khan will continue as the prime minister.
“I want to tell the public to get ready for elections...No corrupt forces will decide what the future of the country will be,” PM Khan said on Sunday, speaking in Urdu.
The powerful military, whose relations with Khan are currently strained, distanced itself with the political developments. “The army has absolutely nothing to do with what happened in the National Assembly today,” chief military spokesperson Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar told a TV news channel. Chief Justice Bandial, after taking a suo motu cognizance of the current political situation in the country, said on Sunday that all orders and actions initiated by the prime minister and the president regarding the dissolution of the National Assembly will be subject to the court’s order.
A three-member bench held the initial hearing despite the weekend and issued notices to all the respondents, including President Alvi and the deputy speaker.
On Sunday, the Supreme Court ordered all parties not to take any “unconstitutional”
measures and had adjourned the hearing until Monday.
Former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the ruling given in the National Assembly by the deputy speaker for the dismissal of the no-trust motion against Prime Minister Khan was “final” and could not be challenged in any court of law. Earlier, the Opposition had demanded the top court to intervene and Shehbaz Sharif, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, announced his party’s decision to challenge the dissolution of the NA.
The crisis erupted after Suri rejected the no-confidence motion, providing Prime Minister Khan to send an advice to the president of the country to dissolve Parliament, which he could not do until any outcome of the no-confidence vote.
Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly and senior PML-N leader Shehbaz Sharif described the developments as “nothing short of high treason”. He said, Imran Khan had “pushed the country into anarchy” and “will not be allowed to go scot-free”. He added, “There will be consequences for [the] blatant and brazen violation of the Constitution.”
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari said the deputy speaker’s ruling was “totally illegal” and the Constitution doesn’t allow the dissolution of assemblies at this stage. “We are prepared for everything...even for elections,” he told the media.
PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari added, “What Imran Khan has done is against the laws...Imran Khan has exposed himself through this move. We will be present inside the National Assembly until this decision is reversed. He is fleeing against the no-trust motion seeing defeat.” No Pakistani PM has ever completed a full five-year term in the coup-prone country that has been ruled for more than half its history by the military. Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa met Prime Minister Khan at least twice last week.
Khan has been under pressure for months to step down and the government’s woes intensified in recent weeks after key allies abandoned him ahead of the no-trust vote. Khan’s government has been accused by the opposition of poor governance as the country grapples with Asia’s second-highest inflation. Khan floated the idea of calling an election if the motion was withdrawn but it was rejected by the opposition.