ISLAMABAD, April 4 (Agencies): Pakistan's top court adjourned on Monday without deciding on the legality of Prime Minister Imran Khan actions in blocking an opposition attempt to oust him, a move that has led to political turmoil in the nuclear-armed nation.
The court, which will sit again Tuesday, received a slew of suits and petitions from the government and opposition after the deputy speaker of the national assembly refused Sunday to allow debate on a no-confidence motion against Khan's administration.
Simultaneously, Khan asked the presidency-a largely ceremonial office held by a loyalist-to dissolve the assembly, meaning an election must be held within 90 days.
According to the constitution, the prime minister cannot ask for the assembly to be dissolved while he is facing a no-confidence vote.
Khan, a former cricket star, lost his majority in parliament last week as his opponents built support in advance of a vote of no-confidence that had been due on Sunday.
The stand-off has thrown the country of 220 million people, which the military has ruled for almost half its history since independence in 1947, into a full-blown constitutional crisis.
Pakistan's opposition has challenged Khan's decision in a legal case that began on Monday, with a five-member Supreme Court bench hearing arguments in a packed courtroom. The court failed to come to a verdict during the three-hour hearing and will return on Tuesday.
"The ruling was unlawful - why?" Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial told lawyers for Pakistan's opposition.
Whatever the Supreme Court decides, Pakistan looks to be heading for a fresh election before the completion of the current term of the parliament and the prime minister in 2023.
If Khan prevails, polls will happen within 90 days. The opposition also wants an early election, albeit after delivering a political defeat to Khan by ousting him through a parliamentary vote. Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif called the blocking of the vote "nothing short of high treason".
"The nation is stunned," the English-language Dawn newspaper said in an editorial.
