Chief Justice Omar Ata Bandial said the court would try to rule on the deputy speaker's decision by tomorrow (Wednesday) as the matter was blocking the formation of caretaker government.
The Chief Justice also said that the court would focus only on the decision of the Deputy Speaker as it could not interfere in the affairs of state and foreign policy.
At the outset of the hearing, advocate Afshan Ghazanfar asked the bench to summon Asad Majeed, the former ambassador of Pakistan to Washington, who had sent a letter warning him to remove Imran Khan. Chief Justice Bandial said that this was not possible as the court was not listening to the plea of any individual at present and would hear only the political parties. The court rejected Advocate Afshan's application.
The Supreme Court adjourned the hearing for another day after the arguments of Raza Rabbani on behalf of PPP and Makhdoom Ali Khan on behalf of PML-N were completed. Farooq Naik, representing the joint opposition, has already completed his arguments. Makhdoom Ali Khan said in his arguments that if the court so chooses, it can take in-camera briefings from the intelligence agencies on the matter.
The Chief Justice said that the court was currently looking into the law and the constitution. He said that the focus of the court was on the decision of the Deputy Speaker and it would prefer to decide only on this legal point. The Chief Justice said that the court needs to review whether it can review the decision of the Deputy Speaker. He said the court does not interfere in state and foreign policy matters and only determines the constitutional status of the measures.
The meeting will reconvene at 11 a.m. Wednesday. The apex court had called an emergency hearing on Sunday immediately after the deputy speaker's decision, but Chief Justice Omar Ata Bandial said on Monday that the court could not "decide in the air" without hearing the parties.
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