Islamabad, April 9: The session of Pakistan’s National Assembly to undertake the no-confidence motion which will decide the fate of Prime Minister Imran Khan has begun in the capital Islamabad, Dawn reported on Saturday. In accordance with the Supreme Court’s directive, voting on the no-confidence motion against Khan is on the day’s agenda and the session began at 10:30am PKT.
Earlier the apex court set aside Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s April 3 ruling which had dismissed the no-trust motion against the premier and the subsequent dissolution of the assembly calling the move unconstitutional. Lawmakers have begun arriving at Parliament House ahead of the session under tight security arrangements in the capital. Earlier the united opposition held a meeting of its parliamentary group chaired by PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif.
The opposition needs the support of at least 172 lawmakers from a total of 342 to oust the premier through the no-trust move and reports say that they have more than enough lawmakers on their side, which does not count the dissident lawmakers from the PTI who have vowed to vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan. However, it wasn’t clear as to who will be chairing the session as the opposition has also filed no-trust motions against Speaker Asad Qaiser and Deputy Speaker Suri.
However, experts are of the view that the Speaker could preside over the no-trust session against the PM, even though a no trust motion has been moved against him. He , however, cannot preside over the session where the no-trust is being considered against him. The ruling PTI has lost its majority in the lower house, yet the party is adamant that it would not leave the field open for the opposition and has vowed to make things as difficult for them as they can, be it creating hurdles in the voting procedure or preventing the election of opposition nominee Shehbaz Sharif as the new leader of the house. Meanwhile, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the government would present the “threatening” cable — purportedly containing evidence of a foreign plot against the government and its contents in the assembly and will ask the speaker for a debate on the issue.
