KARACHI:
The Supreme Court in its historic decision declared the ruling of the Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri — who rejected the resolution of no-confidence — unconstitutional and illegal. Subsequently, the Supreme Court also restored the National Assembly and passed the order to the Speaker to summon the session and complete the process of voting on the no-confidence motion on Saturday.
This decision is a landmark one not only because it restored the NA and declared the Deputy Speaker’s ruling illegal but also because it buried the “Doctrine of Necessity”. The Doctrine of Necessity was applied for the first time in the case of Molvi Tamizuddin Khan vs the Federation of Pakistan, in which Chief Justice Munir validated the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly by then Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad Khan on the basis of necessity. From there began the destruction of Pakistani democracy. Later this doctrine was invoked by all the dictators — first by martial law administrator Ayub Khan and last by Parvez Musharraf — to gain the judicial nod for their martial law regimes. So, by this unanimous verdict, the court has sided with the Constitution and thwarted the intention of those who tried to twist it.
Ayaz Ahmed
Ghotki
Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2022.
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