Al Jazeera :
Pakistan’s top court has once again deferred a decision on the legality of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s actions in blocking an attempt to remove him.
A five-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial is hearing multiple petitions filed by the opposition parties challenging Khan’s decision to dissolve parliament and call for early elections.
The court adjourned the hearing till 11:30am (0600 GMT) on Wednesday and asked the petitioners and respondents to complete their arguments on that day. “We will try to announce a verdict tomorrow,” the chief justice said.
The Supreme Court has sought a record of National Assembly proceedings on the no-confidence motion moved by the opposition against Khan’s government.
The top court issued the directive on the second day of hearing on the legality of deputy speaker of parliament dismissing the motion against Khan without holding a vote.
Russia has accused the United States of “another attempt of shameless interference” in the internal affairs of Pakistan, according to media reports.
“Immediately after the announcement of the working visit of Imran Khan to Moscow on February 23-24 this year, the Americans and their Western associates began to exert rude pressure on the prime minister, demanding an ultimatum to cancel the trip,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Facebook, according to a report in Dawn newspaper.
PM Khan has alleged that a senior US official threatened Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, DC about a regime change in Islamabad.
“The [Pakistan] prime minister himself has repeatedly stated that the conspiracy against him was inspired and financed from abroad,” said the statement.
