ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court adjourned until Thursday a hearing against Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government for blocking an opposition bid to oust him and subsequently dissolving the National Assembly.

Khan was due last Sunday to face a no-confidence vote tabled by the opposition in the National Assembly. But the deputy speaker of parliament, a member of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, threw out the motion, saying it was part of a foreign conspiracy and thus unconstitutional. He used article 5 of the constitution, which deals with loyalty to the state, to make his case. 

The president then dissolved the lower house of parliament on Khan’s advice.

The Supreme Court has since been hearing a case against the government moves filed by the opposition.

The panel of five judges has not said when it will give a ruling but it could order parliament to be reconstituted, call for elections or bar Khan from power if he is found to have violated the constitution. The panel could also decide that it cannot intervene in parliamentary affairs.

At Wednesday’s hearing SC Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial asked the government for the minutes of a March 31 meeting of the National Security Committee.

“Bandial on Wednesday asked the lawyer for the PTI [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf] government, Babar Awan, about the minutes for the recent meeting of the National Security Committee which had discussed a letter purportedly showing evidence of a foreign conspiracy to oust the PTI-led government,” Dawn reported.

Pakistan’s military, whose army, navy and air force chiefs were present at the March 31 NSC meeting, is facing growing calls by the opposition to clarify its position on the veracity of Khan’s complaints about a foreign conspiracy against him.

Khan has said the plot to dislodge him was being orchestrated by the United States, which the State Department and the White House have denied.

Opposition leader Maryam Nawaz said in a press conference late on Tuesday the military should clarify if it had told the National Security Committee meeting that the US had conspired with the opposition to topple Khan’s government.

“Imran Khan has used the National Security Committee for his political gains,” she told reporters.

Pakistan’s military has not confirmed or denied Khan’s accusation but an official with knowledge of the matter, who declined to be identified, told Reuters on Tuesday security agencies had not found “credible evidence” to confirm Khan’s allegations.