AMN/ WEB DES
Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi today dissolved the National Assembly following Prime Minister Imran Khan’s advice. Imran also advised the President to call for fresh elections.
It comes after Deputy Speaker of National Assembly refused to hold a vote of no-confidence. Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri dismissed the no-trust move against Prime Minister Imran Khan, terming it against Article 5 of the Constitution. Suri chaired today’s session after opposition parties filed a no-confidence motion against Speaker Asad Qaiser.
Pak-Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that loyalty to the state was the basic duty of every citizen under Article 5. He told MPs that Pakistani officials had been told of ‘an operation for a regime change by a foreign government’. This, he said, went against the Constitution and the Deputy Speaker chairing the session proceeded to declare the vote unconstitutional. Later, in a public address to the nation, Imran Khan told the nation to prepare for elections.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib said that fresh elections will be held in the country within 90 days. The Opposition has filed a petition to the country’s Supreme Court. A three-member bench of the top court comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, and Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar heard the case and issued notices to all the respondents, including President Alvi and the deputy speaker of the National Assembly.
Chief Justice Bandial said that all orders and actions initiated by the Pakistan prime minister and president regarding the dissolution of the National Assembly will be subject to the court’s order. Meanwhile, heavy security has been deployed around government buildings and across the capital, Islamabad.