PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Sunday hit out at the government and Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaisar for allegedly "violating the Constitution" by exceeding the 14-day limit of convening a National Assembly session after a requisition of the session was filed by the opposition.

The speaker has summoned the session of the lower house to deliberate on the opposition's no-confidence resolution against Prime Minister Imran Khan on March 25 (Friday) at 11am.

The session, which will be the 41st of the current National Assembly, was summoned after the joint opposition made the requisition for it under Article 54 of the Constitution along with the submission of the no-confidence motion against the prime minister on March 8.

According to Article 54, once a session of the National Assembly has been requisitioned with signatures of at least 25 per cent of the members on it, the speaker has a maximum of 14 days to summon a session. Therefore, the speaker had to call the lower house in session by March 22.

Reacting to the development at a press conference today, Bilawal accused the NA speaker of flouting the Constitution, saying the opposition would pursue the matter legally at the Supreme Court. "Our lawyers will raise legal and constitutional points on the matter and our case is strong," he said.

He pointed out that there was a 14-day limit after the requisition to call a session, stressing that the speaker could not go beyond the limit as it was "unconstitutional".

The PPP leader said he was thankful to the Supreme Court for issuing notices to political parties in connection to a petition filed by the Supreme Court Bar Council (SCBA) seeking the SC's intervention to prevent "anarchy" ahead of the no-confidence vote against the premier.

The Supreme Court had on Saturday issued notices to four political parties — PTI, PML-N, PPP and JUI-F — in connection with a petition filed by the SCBA.

The SCBA, in its petition, had demanded that officials tasked with the responsibility to maintain law and order in Islamabad must "prevent any assembly, gathering, public meetings and/or processions that could hamper the assembly proceedings or participation of members in the session".

It had also sought the court's directions for all state functionaries "to act strictly in accordance with the Constitution and the law and they be restrained from acting in any manner detrimental to and unwarranted by the Constitution and the law."

Bilawal said no political party was a party to the SCBA's petition, however, "I commend that the court gathered on a weekend on Saturday and issued notices while hearing this important plea."

The PPP leader said he had not thought that the government would move to "violate" the Constitution. "The government is now sensing its defeat and it is now making unconstitutional attempts."

He also alleged that the prime minister was hoping that the "neutrality status" of the establishment underwent a change. He said the opposition wanted one of the ISPR or the top court to take notice of the prime minister's "campaign".

"We will not allow such propaganda to succeed," he added.

He called Prime Minister Imran Khan a "foreign-sponsored and a foreign-funded agent who has been planted in our system". He accused the premier of implementing the plans of his "external masters" who wanted to destabilise Pakistan.

He stressed that PM Imran and his government had lost public support. "He has lost all by-elections and local body elections. All MNAs kept watching his policies and they left him fearing that their own political career could plummet".

He said Imran Khan had become extremely unpopular among the public due to his economic policies and economic devastations that the nation had suffered due to his "incompetence".