CJP arrives at Supreme Court as no-trust vote against PM Imran gets delayed

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial arrived at the Supreme Court on Saturday amid reports that the government is making last-ditch efforts to delay the vote of no-confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan, Aaj News reported.

The development comes as National Assembly (NA) speaker Asad Qaiser failed to conduct the vote of no-confidence motion as per the top court's orders despite the session running for at least 12 hours.

On Thursday night, the Supreme Court had set aside the ruling issued by the deputy speaker on the no-trust vote against Khan and restored the NA.

The court ruled that President Dr Arif Alvi's decision last week to dissolve the NA was "illegal", and restored PM Imran as well as his cabinet.

5-0: Supreme Court restores National Assembly, sets aside deputy speaker's ruling

The top court also ordered NA Speaker Asad Qaiser to summon the session on Saturday at 10:30 am, saying that the session cannot be prorogued without the conclusion of the no-trust motion.

"If the no-confidence motion against the prime minister succeeds, then the assembly will appoint the new prime minister," the court order said.

Following the verdict, Khan addressed the nation on Friday night, saying that he once went to prison for a free judiciary but was disappointed that the apex court gave its verdict without even going into the details of the letter on the basis of which Suri gave his ruling.

No-confidence motion: Delay in National Assembly session as speculation rises

The prime minister said that the court should have at least seen the document to ascertain whether the government's claim was true or not. However, he said that he would accept the court verdict but questioned what kind of democracy is that the court has not taken suo moto action against the horse-trading going on behind the vote of no confidence.

During the NA session earlier on Saturday, the speaker had said that the Supreme Court's orders will be followed in true letter and spirit.

If voting is not conducted before midnight tonight, contempt of court may apply to the speaker NA.