By Umamah Bakharia

The Pakistan Supreme Court has delayed its verdict to determine if Prime Minister Imran Khan had violated the constitution by dissolving parliament rather than having a vote of no-confidence.

This comes after opposition parties filed a petition to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to evaluate whether the move to block the vote was constitutional.

On Sunday, members of Khan’s party blocked a vote of no-confidence which then dissolved parliament. Khan claims that this is part of a plot by the US to have him removed as PM. The US has however denied this.

Radio Islam discussed this further with the editor of Pakistan Geo-Strategic Review and guest writer for Islamabad Center For Strategic and Temporary Research, Zaki Khalid, live from Pakistan on the situation on the ground.

According to Khalid, the PM was updating the public through televised addresses over the weekend saying that he was prepared to face the vote count by members of the parliament that were to decide whether or not there was confidence on him [Khan] to lead Pakistan known as ‘the vote of no-confidence.’

However, at the last minute, Pakistan’s former PM preempted any resignation attempt or any forced expulsion by dissolving his own assembly.

“He preempted the opposition and he took the lead and the rationale for it was that he claimed that instead of being voted put and giving space to his political rivals, he would much rather dissolve his assembly and go back to the people to see if they would like to vote for him again,” says Khalid.

The majority in Pakistan believe that this is indeed an unconditional move by Khan to dissolve parliament.

A decision on the case is expected soon by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who is heading the case.

“It just basically depends on whether or not the judiciary is going to succumb to the pressure by the politics or not,” says Khalid.

He adds: ‘”If they do not, then they will take an independent decision [and] most likely undo what has been done otherwise it will actually be a new president if they endorse what Imran Khan did.”