Pakistan’s top court to decide Imran Khan’s future; still PM for now
- Supreme Court heard arguments on Monday around his calling an early election and avoiding a no-confidence vote; court to sit again on Tuesday
- President Arif Alvi told Khan and opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif they should agree on new interim prime minister; Sharif declined to cooperate
Pakistan’s Supreme Court adjourned Monday without ruling on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s shock decision to dissolve parliament and call a snap election, sidestepping a no-confidence vote that would have seen him booted from office.
The court, which will sit again on Tuesday, received a slew of suits and petitions from the government and opposition after the deputy speaker of the national assembly refused on Sunday to allow debate on a no-confidence motion against Khan’s administration.
Simultaneously, Khan asked the presidency – a largely ceremonial office held by a loyalist – to dissolve the assembly, meaning an election must be held within 90 days.
According to the constitution, the prime minister cannot ask for the assembly to be dissolved while he is facing a no-confidence vote.
Farooq Naek, a lawyer representing petitioners seeking to overturn the assembly dissolution, told the supreme court it wasn’t in the “power and ambit” of the deputy speaker to reject the no-confidence motion.