Pakistan's Top Court Delays Decision on Political Crisis

The Supreme Court of Pakistan postponed its ruling on whether Prime Minister Imran Khan and his allies improperly dissolved Parliament earlier this week, paving the way for quick elections, on Tuesday.

The court, which has been hearing Khan's lawyers and the opposition's arguments since Monday, said it still needs to hear more arguments on the crisis and that hearings would resume on Wednesday.

Qasim Suri, Khan's friend and Pakistan's deputy parliament speaker, dismissed the assembly on Sunday to avoid a no-confidence vote, which Khan appeared to be losing. According to the opposition, this was a violation of the constitution.

Khan claims that the US is assisting his political opponents in their efforts to depose him, claiming that Washington wants him "personally gone" because of his pro-Russia and pro-China foreign policy positions.

The United States has refuted the allegations.

“We support the peaceful upholding of constitutional democratic principles. That is the case in Pakistan. It is the case around the world,” U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Monday. “We do not support one political party over another; we support the broader principles, the principles of rule of law, of equal justice under the law.”

Khan was chastised for abstaining from a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Russia's incursion in Ukraine last month, as well as for his travel to Moscow on February 24, only hours after Russian tanks entered Ukraine.