New Delhi: Following the high drama that has occurred in Pakistan's politics, the Supreme Court has taken a suo motu notice of President Arif Alvi's dissolution of the National Assembly on Sunday, news agency ANI reported.
Earlier, in his address to the media, Imran Khan stated that he had asked the President to dissolve the Assembly, after which Arif Alvi dissolved the NA. Elections are anticipated to take place within the next 90 days.
While addressing the nation, Khan said, "I have written to the President to dissolve the Assemblies. There should be elections in a democratic way. I call upon the people of Pakistan to prepare for elections."
Today's session was chaired by National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, who dismissed the no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan's administration as a violation of Article 5 of the Constitution.
In response, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari stated that Imran Khan's proposal to the President to dissolve the National Assembly is a breach of the Constitution.
“Government has violated the Constitution by not allowing voting on the no-confidence motion. United Opposition is not leaving Parliament. Our lawyers are on their way to Supreme Court. We call on all institutions to protect," uphold, defend and implement the Constitution of Pakistan,” Bilawal was quoted by ANI in its report.
Bilawal went on to say that everyone saw the Constitution being violated.
“Everyone has seen what happened in Pakistan today. President, Speaker can easily see that the Opposition had a majority against Imran Khan in the no-confidence motion,” he said.
He slammed the Deputy Speaker, saying, "He has done an unconstitutional thing at the last moment. He violated Pakistan's constitution. According to the Constitution, the no-trust vote had to take place today."
He stated that the opposition has chosen to resist the unlawful move in the National Assembly by refusing to leave the floor until their constitutional rights are granted to them.
Imran Khan appears to have lost support in both the Lower House of the legislature and the all-powerful Pakistan Army.
On March 8, the opposition party introduced a no-confidence resolution against the Prime Minister.
Imran Khan suffered a huge setback when the PTI "lost the majority" in the National Assembly after losing its primary coalition partner, Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P).
The MQM declared that it had reached an agreement with the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and would support the no-trust vote in the National Assembly's 342-member chamber.
(With ANI Inputs)