The Pakistan Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the minutes of the National Security Council meeting to know more about the alleged “foreign conspiracy”.

The court adjourned till Thursday the hearing of the case on the rejection of the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan through a controversial ruling by the deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Qasim Khan Suri.

On Sunday, Suri ruled that the motion was linked with “foreign conspiracy” to topple the government and hence was not maintainable. Minutes later, President Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on the advice of Khan.

The court within hours took suo motu notice of the ruling and a five-member bench started hearing the case on Monday. The bench is headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.

During the third day of the hearing on Wednesday, Babar Awan appeared for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and Ali Zafar represented President Alvi. Chief Justice Bandial asked Awan about the minutes of the recent meeting of the National Security Council which had discussed a letter purportedly showing evidence of the “foreign conspiracy” to oust the PTI-led government.

During the hearing, the chief justice questioned the basis on which the Speaker issued the ruling, Dawn newspaper reported.

“Can the Speaker announce such a ruling without presenting the facts,” he asked, adding that this was the constitutional point on which the court had to make a decision.

Justice Bandial also asked Awan to inform the court whether the Speaker could issue a ruling that was not on the day’s agenda by bypassing Article 95. He told the PTI counsel to defend the ruling with “solid” evidence.

“Where are the minutes of the NSC meeting?” he asked Awan.

“We want to see what the conspiracy was that was used to dismiss the motion.”

Justice Bandial said that the court would also examine whether the Speaker had the authority to deviate from the agenda of the House and rely on some other “facts”.

“Whether there was such material present… when did the meeting of the NSC take place,” Justice Bandial went on to ask and said Awan also needed to tell the court if a constitutional process could be sidelined.

After Awan, Zafar began his arguments, insisting that any direction from the court on the matter of the deputy Speaker’s ruling would exceed its jurisdiction.

Imran to court: Probe ‘conspiracy’

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court to set up a Memogate-style judicial commission to probe an alleged “foreign conspiracy” to topple his democratically-elected government.

Khan has claimed that a vote of no-confidence against him in the National Assembly tabled by the Opposition was part of a US-led conspiracy to remove him.

In a statement of facts submitted to the apex court through his lawyers, Khan said the commission must analyse the incriminating evidence, take notice of the horse-trading conducted by these corrupt politicians, some of whose family members are absconders of law and have taken refuge in in the West.