Opposition calls speaker biased, ‘PTI stooge’ over session adjournment
Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
The much anticipated National Assembly session, with no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan on its agenda, has been adjourned till Monday March 28.
The session started here on Friday with Speaker Asad Qaiser in the chair. After the recitation of the Holy Quran, the members offered Fateha for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s member National Assembly (MNA) Khayal Zaman who passed away on February 14 this year. After the Fateha, the speaker adjourned the session till 4pm Monday.
Qaiser said the session has been adjourned in line with the parliamentary traditions that mandate the first day’s session after the death of a member is adjourned after offering Fatiha for the departed soul. “In the past, 24 sessions had been adjourned in line with this tradition,” he said.
He remarked that the proceedings on the no-confidence motion will take place per the constitution. The no-confidence motion was included on the agenda of the National Assembly session issued Thursday.
The agenda indicated that Ameer Haider Azam Khan Hoti of the Awami National Party will move the no-confidence motion with permission from the National Assembly speaker.
The joint opposition had submitted the no-trust motion with the NA secretariat on March 8 with the signatures of 152 members. It needs at least 172 votes to pass the motion to dislodge Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Earlier the Opposition had submitted a no-confidence motion against PM Imran Khan on March 8 and the 14-day constitutional deadline as per Article 54(3) to convene the NA session on the Opposition requisition has expired on March 21.
“This House is of the view that the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, has lost the confidence of the majority of the members of the National Assembly of Pakistan; therefore he should cease to hold office,” the text of the resolution as placed on order of the day said.
Before the start of the session, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari told the reporters that today is the day of their victory.
“Today, after three years of hard work, the no-confidence motion has been included in the agenda — Orders of the Day — for the NA session,” he said, adding that going forward, people of Pakistan will see victory while government will face defeat. Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif said that a strategy will be devised today during the session.
Replying to a journalist’s question regarding matters being settled through the backdoor, Shahbaz questioned that who said “matters are being settled like this?” Meanwhile, former president and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said: “InshaAllah everything will get better” as this is an important turning point of the country’s politics.
The ruling PTI’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Shireen Mazari, Asad Umar and Ali Muhammad Khan were among those attending the session, as well as Grand Democratic Alliance’s Dr Fehmida Mirza.
From the opposition ranks, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, PPP Chairman Bilalwal Bhutto-Zardari and PPP co-chair Asif Ali Zardari, were also present. Reportedly, over 150 opposition lawmakers and around 50 treasury members attended the session.
However, the exact numbers could not be ascertained. Meanwhile, during a press conference outside Parliament House shortly after the session was adjourned, Shehbaz launched a scathing attacking on Qaiser, calling him a “stooge” of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
