SC begins hearing of NA deputy speaker’s ruling case today

Islamabad: The Supreme Court has formed a five-member larger bench headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan for the suo-moto hearing over the deputy speaker’s ruling over the no-trust motion in the National Assembly.

The five-member larger bench which is hearing the Presidential Reference seeking interpretation of Article 63-A will hear the suo-moto case.

The bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial will hear the case at 1:00 pm today.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, Justice Munib Akhtar, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel are other members of the bench.

Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan will give his arguments regarding the deputy speaker’s yesterday action.  

Earlier, a three-member bench of the apex court comprising Chief Justice Omar Atta Bindiyal, Justice Aijaz ul Ahsan and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar heard the suo-moto notice yesterday and later adjourned the hearing till today.

The court issued notices to political parties Interior and Defence Secretaries. The Chief Justice took the suo-moto notice as a result of the situation that emerged after the Deputy Speaker National Assembly rejected the no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister without holding voting on it.

Yesterday, at the beginning of the NA session Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had delivered a speech in which he linked the no-confidence motion to the letter received by the government, and in which it had been threatened with dire consequences in case the motion against the government was not passed. 

Immediately after his speech, NA Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri threw out the motion, saying that no foreign power had any right to interfere in the internal matters of Pakistan.