ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Law and Justice Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar on Thursday said that the apex court’s decision on National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s ruling on no confidence vote would be remembered as example in the political history of Pakistan.
Addressing a press conference along with Adviser to Prime Minister on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Qamar Zaman Kaira regarding Supreme Court’s detailed judgment issued in suo motu notice case on ruling of NA deputy speaker on no-trust motion against Imran Khan, the law minister stated that the apex court’s decision on Deputy Speakers ruling was one of important case in the political history of Pakistan. The apex court rejected former Deputy Speaker of National Assembly Qasim Suri’s ruling on vote of no confidence against former Prime Minister Imran Khan, he added.
He said that former Prime Minister Imran Khan who was legally not eligible to dissolve the National Assembly suggested the President to dissolve the National Assembly and the President without applying his mind dissolved the Assembly in minutes while the apex court took suo moto notice and a 12 judges of the Supreme Court had requested Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial to took suo moto notice as it was an important case for Pakistan’s Constitution and democratic history.
The political leadership of the country praised the apex court over suo moto notice, he added.
He said that the apex court in its short order on April 7 not only termed the Deputy Speaker’s ruling illegal and unconstitutional but also voided the dissolution of the National Assembly. He said that the apex court ordered to again take up the no confidence motion.
The detailed judgment also rejected the Deputy Speaker’s ruling and termed the dissolution of National Assembly illegal, he added.
The minister said that the Supreme Court has once again played its role in strengthening democracy and rule of law in the country through its latest judgment in the suo motu case of National Assembly Deputy Speaker’s ruling.
He said that said the apex court in its detailed judgment has declared the ruling of Deputy Speaker National Assembly as unconstitutional and malafide.
He said the apex court also rejected the foreign conspiracy narrative of PTI Chairman Imran Khan thus laying it to rest forever.
The Minister for Law said this is the unanimous verdict by five judges of the Apex court while two honorable judges added to the judgment saying that violation of article 5 of the Constitution regarding loyalty to state and Constitution has been proved.
Azam Nazeer Tarar said the Supreme Court however left it to the discretion of the government and the parliament to pursue the case under Article 6.
He said that the ruling clearly stated that the rejection of the no-confidence motion by Qasim Suri and subsequent efforts by Imran Khan to dissolve assemblies were carried out in bad faith. “It also highlighted that this move was an effort to stop the vote of no-confidence through unconstitutional methods,” he added.
Tarar said that said that the verdict of the Supreme Court buries Imran Khan’s claim that a foreign conspiracy was hatched to remove the PTI-led government through vote of no confidence.
The ruling stated that Khan remained silent about the cipher, which he said was proof that foreign hands were behind his ouster, for 20 days. It said he claimed to have recieved the letter on March 7, but didn’t bring it up until March 7. On March 30, this point was discussed in a National Security Committee that did not consider it a national security issue, he added.
He said if it was an important problem, the government should have discussed it in parliament and investigated the cipher through in house camera proceedings.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said the detailed judgement of the Supreme Court had exposed the pack of lies of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan who did propaganda about the no-confidence vote as the ‘regime change’.
“Honourable Supreme Court’s detailed judgement on Vote of No Confidence exposes the lies and propaganda indulged in by Imran Khan and company,” he said in a tweet.
The prime minister termed it “utterly shameful” how Imran Khan tried to undermine the Constitution and manufactured the lie of “regime change”.
“The judgement is a must-read for everyone,” he stressed.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a detailed judgement explaining the reasons behind its decision to set aside a controversial ruling by the National Assembly speaker on April 3 that dismissed the no-confidence motion against then prime minister Imran Khan.
In the verdict authored by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, the top judge stated that by dismissing the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan, Speaker Qasim Suri prima facie breached his constitutional duty.
Justice Bandial also said that the April 3 ruling failed to qualify for the protection of the internal proceedings of parliament under Article 69(1) as it was “not the outcome of a vote in the National Assembly instead, it was a unilateral decision”.
