Pakistan lawmakers clashed angrily in the national assembly on Saturday with the opposition accusing ruling party members of wasting time ahead of a no-confidence vote that will likely see prime minister Imran Khan booted from office.
The Pakistan National Assembly session to decide the fate of Imran Khan had been adjourned yet again and was expected to resume at 9:30pm (PST) on Saturday after Isha prayers, reports Dawn online.
National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser was chairing the day’s session when it began at 10:30am sharp, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s directives, and with the recitation of the Quran. It was followed by the national anthem and prayers for the recently deceased mother of MNA Shazia Sobia.
However, Amjad Ali Khan Niazi chaired the session for a brief period as the session resumed after the adjournment before Qaiser returned.
Voting on the no-confidence motion against the prime minister is the fourth item on the day’s agenda but it has yet to happen. Since morning, opposition and treasury members have been giving speeches on the floor of the house.
While the opposition came out in full force, very few members of the treasury benches were in attendance before the session was adjourned. Prime minister Imran Khan was also not present.
The opposition needs the support of at least 172 lawmakers from a total of 342 to oust the prime minister through the no-trust move.
A meeting was held between the treasury and opposition benches in the speaker’s chamber after the session was adjourned, where the latter called for holding proceedings according to the Supreme Court’s directives.
Foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and PTI leader Amir Dogar participated from the government’s side while Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Rana Sanaullah, Ayaz Sadiq, Naveed Qamar and Maulana Asad Mahmood represented the opposition.
Following this, a meeting of the opposition’s parliamentary group was called at the opposition leader’s chamber. PML-N’s Khawaja Saad Rafique, speaking in the NA after the adjournment, said that the speaker had promised that voting would be held after iftar.
Separately, the government sent a review petition to the apex court against its decision to set aside the deputy speaker’s April 3 ruling. The petition, however, is yet to be filed since the officers of the court did not process it on receipt as they close early in Ramadan. According to the PTI’s counsel Azhar Siddique, it will be processed on Monday.
As the session began after adjournment, Qureshi took the floor once again and lambasted the fact that lawmakers switched their loyalties for material gain.
‘Are those powers who have sworn to uphold the Constitution not seeing this bazaar?’ he asked, adding that the nation was well aware of how votes were bought and sold during last year’s Senate elections.
‘We raised objections (...) we presented those videos in the Election Commission of Pakistan. The PTI kept knocking on the ECP’s doors for a year. After this struggle, the arguments were concluded. (But) despite the lapse of a year, the judgement is reserved and we have not gotten justice,’ he lamented.
The foreign minister also said that ‘blatant attempts’ for changing the regime were not hidden. Striking a philosophical note, he said that man was temporary but facts could not be suppressed. ‘History will expose those who have run this entire drama (...) the pen of the historian does not forgive anyone.’
Qureshi said that the prime minister had called on the nation to decide whether they would live as a sovereign state or would remain slaves.
‘Pakistan is standing at the crossroads of history. The nation has to decide whether we will live with our heads bowed or with our heads held high,’ he said.
