PM Imran Khan repeats public call to 'defend' country's sovereignty, democracy

• PM Imran Khan believes the people of Pakistan are its "strongest defenders of sovereignty and democracy".
• Asks public to "come out and defend against this latest and biggest assault on Pakistan's sovereignty and democracy". 
• This is the second time PM Imran has asked the public to support him.

With the country under the grip of a political crisis, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday once again urged the public to "come out and defend" Pakistan's sovereignty and democracy, reasoning that "the people are always the strongest defenders".

"The people are always the strongest defenders of a country's sovereignty and democracy," tweeted PM Imran minutes before the Supreme Court was set to hold a hearing on the suo motu notice on the deputy speaker's April 3 ruling.

"It is the people who must come out and defend against this latest and biggest assault on Pakistan's sovereignty and democracy by a foreign power through local collaborators — our Mir Jafars and Mir Sadiqs," said PM Imran. 

This is the second time that PM Imran has asked the public to come out in support of him.

On April 2, a day before the expected voting on the no-confidence motion against him, he had called on the youth to protest for two days against a "foreign conspiracy" being hatched against his government.

A day later, on April 3, the National Assembly had to vote on the no-trust motion against the PM, but NA Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri ruled out the no-trust motion under Article 5. Subsequently, President Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on the PM’s advice and ordered fresh polls in the country.

National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri termed the no-confidence motion "unconstitutional", saying that it was backed by "foreign powers".

The ruling came after PM Imran on March 27 in a public rally, revealed that "foreign elements" are behind the no-confidence motion moved against his government and said, "some of our own people" are being used in this regard.

Later, he named the United States to be behind the conspiracy — an allegation that the country has dismissed as baseless. 

Following the controversy, the National Security Committee (NSC) met on March 31 and decided Pakistan would issue a strong demarche to the country whose official communicated the "threat".

However, the ruling of the deputy speaker plunged the country into a political crisis and on the same day Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial took notice of the political situation in the country and said that "any orders and actions that Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi regarding the dissolution of the National Assembly shall be subject to the order of this court."