ISLAMABAD: The crucial National Assembly session which started after much delay, Thursday, was adjourned a few minutes after it began till Sunday at 11:30am without discussing the no-confidence resolution against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The National Assembly Secretariat had issued the order of the day on Wednesday night, with a discussion on the no-confidence resolution against the prime minister on the session’s agenda.
When the National Assembly session kicked off by Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan moved a motion in the house to adjourn the session of the National Assembly for using the Assembly hall for a meeting (in-camera) of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, which was scheduled to be held at 6:00pm. The house rejected the motion with majority opposition members. More than 172 members of the opposition benches were present in the house.
After it, the Deputy Speaker announced that the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security would be held in Committee Room No 2 of the Parliament.
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After it, when the deputy speaker National Assembly started question hours and gave the floor to the opposition members one by one to ask supplementary questions on written answers of the questions, all opposition members urged him to allow voting on the no-confidence resolution against the prime minister.
At this, Deputy Speaker Suri said due to the “non-serious” attitude of the opposition members, the session is being adjourned till Sunday at 11:30am almost 10 minutes after its beginning.
During this period, the treasury members shouted and taunted the opposition benches, particularly the Balochistan Awami Party members who recently joined the opposition, by calling them “turncoats, turncoats, turncoats.”
Despite the session’s adjournment, more than 150 opposition lawmakers staged a sit-in in the house and raised slogans against the prime minister but after a few minutes they dispersed and left the house. The no-confidence resolution against the prime minister was tabled by the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Shehbaz Sharif, on March 28 and it was approved for debate the very same day.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has seemingly lost the majority in the Lower House of the Parliament because his party’s allies —Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), and an independent MNA from Balochistan Aslam Bhootani have already announced to join the opposition on voting on no-confidence resolution.
The joint-opposition had submitted the requisition along with notice of the no-confidence resolution, in the National Assembly Secretariat on March 8. The notice of no-confidence resolution against the Prime Minster was signed by 152 opposition members.
Meanwhile, the joint opposition also submitted a requisition to Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser for the election of a new prime minister to be included in the agenda of the National Assembly session that was scheduled to be held today (Thursday).
The requisition was submitted by the opposition members, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Naveed Qamar, and Shazia Marri on behalf of the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Shehbaz Sharif. The requisition stated that a supplementary agenda should be issued to include the matter of electing a new premier, in case the no-trust motion was passed in Thursday’s session.
“We request that the election of a new prime minister be included in the agenda by issuing a supplementary agenda, if the no-confidence motion succeeds,” it said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022