No-confidence motion against Imran Khan gets underway

Story by  ATV | Posted by  sabir hussain • 1 Years ago
The Pakistan National Assembly .
The Pakistan National Assembly .

 

Islamabad

Proceedings of the Pakistan National Assembly session with the specific mandate to take up the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan-led government and the election of the new leader of the House got underway on Saturday.

Heavy security has been deployed outside the Pakistan National Assembly in Islamabad ahead of the no-confidence motion. MNAs began arriving at Parliament House ahead of the no-trust vote in line with the deadline set by the Supreme Court.

Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz, and other MNAs have started arriving at the National Assembly, reported Geo News.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court had ordered the government to face the no-confidence motion on Saturday. The court had turned down the ruling of the Deputy Speaker to reject the no-confidence motion on the grounds of the move being "unconstitutional" and brought as part of a "foreign conspiracy".

The top court's directives came after Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial took suo motu cognisance of Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri's ruling and the subsequent dissolution of the National Assembly, declaring all the decisions unconstitutional.

According to the Supreme Court order, voting is to be held at all costs on Saturday and in case the PM is voted out, the election of a new Leader of the House will be held during the same session. The voting on the no-confidence motion is at the fourth position in the six-point agenda issued for Saturday.

Speaker Asad Qaiser cannot take up agenda other than voting on the motion, and if he does so, he would have to face contempt of court proceedings, reported Geo News.

The Opposition has also submitted the no-confidence motions against the Speaker and Deputy Speaker. However, Asad Qaiser can chair today's session according to the rules.

The National Assembly officials told Geo News that according to the SC larger bench's written order, the NA Speaker has been made duty-bound to proceed with the no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government as per the April 3 agenda of the House.