A petition filed in the Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday seeking the suspension of the National Assembly's proceedings on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan was deemed "not entertainable" by the court registrar.
The opposition tabled a no-trust motion in the National Assembly last month, and following the exhaustion of the constitutionally allowed limit, the house is to go to vote tomorrow to decide the fate of PM Imran's government.
However, Prime Minister Imran Khan, during the PTI power show on March 27, claimed that the no-trust move was a part of a "foreign conspiracy" hatched to topple his government. During the public meeting, he had pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, waved it at the crowd and called it "evidence".
The petition filed in the Supreme Court today, said that members of the Parliament were "acting on the instigation of foreign hostile countries acting against the polity and integrity of Pakistan" and had "conspired, conceived and hatched a move in the form of a no-confidence motion before the National Assembly of Pakistan to oust a lawfully elected Federal Government".
In the reasons for the rejection, the court registrar explained that the validity of parliamentary proceedings could not be called into question under Article 69 (courts not to inquire into proceedings of parliament) of the Constitution.
According to the registrar, the petition did not point out what questions of public importance were involved regarding the enforcement of fundamental constitutional rights and which merited directly invoking the SC's jurisdiction. The court official argued that the requirements for invoking the apex court's jurisdiction were thus not satisfied.
The registrar also explained that the petitioner had not approached any other appropriate forum to resolve the issue or provided any justification for not doing so. Among the other reasons, the registrar said multiple misconceived prayers were made in the petition.
Pointing to a technical fault, the registrar said the notice issued to the respondents was not properly formulated as it did not tell for what reason the petition was being filed and did not have a copy of the petition attached.
The petition
The petition, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was filed by Naeemul Hassan in the top court. The respondents named in it include the Federation of Pakistan, Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Law, National Assembly speaker, Election Commission of Pakistan, Federal Investigation Agency, PTI, PML-N, PPP, JUI-F, and MQM-P.
The petitioner said that PM Imran had taken various measures to restore normalcy in the affairs of the state but local political parties had been "aiding and assisting extremism in the country".
He claimed that the JUI-F was one of the "greatest beneficiaries of the Afghan war" adding that the party's "ardent followers are the young recruits of religious seminaries who provide them the raw street power".
"The stated party, has arrayed itself as a political party, has unknown resources of immense wealth, foreign donations and contributions; it has persistently declined to have its annual accounts audited by any reputable auditor/regulator," the petition reads.
The petitioner alleged that the PML-N, too, had been involved in "massive corruption" led by the Sharif family. "It has colluded with terrorist organisations and personalities like Osama Bin Laden," it added.
About PPP, the petitioner contended that the party had gone through destructions under the leadership of Asif Ali Zardari.
"Their [the opposition's] shenanigans have been tolerated by the present respondent government but now these political parties have committed the most heinous crime of sedition and treason at the behest of foreign powers which is established by the events, facts and detailed herein after," he said.
Mentioning the letter brandished by the prime minister, the petitioner said that it was an "ill motivated conspiracy of the respondent political parties".
"It is, therefore, prayed to the Supreme Court to constitute a Commission of Inquiry comprising of three honourable Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan or three Chief Justices of the High Courts of Pakistan, to hold inquisitorial proceedings with regard to the anti-state activities conducted by the respondent political parties through malafide and abuse of power under the provisions of the Constitution and for committing sedition and treason against the democratically and legally elected government as detailed herein above."
The petitioner pleaded that the commission should hold hearings on a daily basis.
"On the basis of this report, direct the respondent federal government to take appropriate remedial action along with the mode and manner thereof, against the respondent political parties/their members," the petition stated.
It also requested that no-confidence resolution should be declared "tainted, mala fide and utterly without jurisdiction" and its proceedings on Sunday should be suspended.
