Saddened by SC verdict, but accept it: Imran Khan

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in an address to the nation on Friday said he accepts the Supreme Court's verdict issued a day ago, The Dawn reports. 

"I am saddened by the verdict, but I accept it," the premier said.

He said the deputy speaker prorogued the assembly and set aside the no-confidence motion in light of Article 5 of the Constitution.

"There was foreign interference in Pakistan's no-confidence. I wanted the SC to at least looked at it, it was a very serious allegation that a foreign country wants to topple the government through a conspiracy."

Imran Khan said he was at least expecting a probe by the SC.

"The SC could have at least asked for and looked at the document to gauge whether we're speaking the truth. I was a bit disappointed because this is a very big issue and there was no discussion on it in the SC."

PM Imran said he was also saddened at the haste with which the court made its decision.

He said open horse trading and "buying and selling of consciences of lawmakers" was going on in the country. "Every child knows the price at which consciences are being sold."

"What kind of democracy is this? Which democracy in the world allows this? And the biggest forum for justice, the judiciary, we expected it to take suo motu action if nothing else."

Yesterday, the apex court had in a 5-0 unanimous verdict set aside the April 3 ruling of National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri in which he dismissed the no-trust motion against the premier and also reversed the dissolution of the NA by the president on the PM's advice.

According to PTI leader Faisal Javed Khan, PM Imran was well aware of how to tackle the challenges thrown his way. "Apparently, the opposition thinks it has won but that is not so. They have lost," he said.

"Kaptaan will make an important announcement today. He will never disappoint the nation," he said.

As the opposition celebrated, the prime minister took to Twitter to announce that he had summoned a meeting of the federal cabinet for today and would also address the nation.

He said a meeting of the PTI's parliamentary committee would also be convened today and that he would "continue to fight for Pakistan till the last ball".