Islamabad: A no-confidence motion against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was tabled Monday in the National Assembly. It was done by Leader of the Opposition and PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif. By doing so he put in motion the process in the lower house to remove the embattled cricketer-turned-politician from office.
The much-anticipated session began after a two-day recess Monday. Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri asked the members of the Parliament, as to who are in favour of the motion, to stand up to that their numbers could be counted. Sharif first moved a resolution to allow tabling of the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan in the National Assembly, the lower house of bi-cameral parliament, which was approved by 161 yes votes. It was followed by tabling of the no-confidence motion by Sharif, capping the first phase of the constitutional procedure.
Since the voting should be held between 3-7 days, Deputy Speaker Suri who was chairing the session,0 in the absence of Speaker Asad Qaidar, prorogued the session until 4.00pm March 31, when it would reconvene for debate and voting.
Prime Minister Khan needs 172 votes in the house of 342 to foil the bid. Since Khan’s allies with 23 members are still not committed to support him and about two dozen lawmakers from within the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf have revolted, the situation was still fluid.
Khan was meeting Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, a key ally, while opposition was scheduled to hold a massive rally in the capital, as both side claims having numbers to succeed.
The country plunged into uncertainty on March 8 after the combined opposition submitted the motion with the National Assembly along with a requisition to the speaker to summon the session within mandatory 14 days.
Also read: Imran Khan buys himself some time ahead of no-confidence motion
Though the session was called March 25, three days after the deadline, the speaker refused to allow the motion to be tabled.
Talking to media, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said that the no-confidence resolution would be decided by March 31. He asserted that Khan was not going anywhere.
“People must shun the idea that Imran’s politics is teetering on the brink, especially after his ‘great’ rally in Islamabad a day ago’” Rashid said. He termed the move as ‘a conspiracy to weaken Pakistan’.
Rashid repeated what Khan said Sunday while addressing a rally in Islamabad. Khan had said that an international conspiracy was afoot to topple his government. However, in response to a question Rashid said he has no idea about the letter that Khan had referred to in his speech.
In a massive show of strength ahead of the crucial no-confidence motion against his government, Khan addressed Sunday a mammoth rally in the national capital. He he claimed that foreign powers were involved in a conspiracy to topple his coalition government.
Rashid also said that the Prime Minister had rejected his proposal to call snap elections, dissolve the Punjab Assembly and impose governor’s rule in Sindh. He also said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had permission of Islamabad’s administration to hold a rally in the capital Monday.
Rashid is a close aide of Khan and is regularly dishing out hope to the supporters of Khan. The prime minister got another jolt in the form of a no-confidence move filed against his protege and hand-picked Chief Minister of Punjab province, Usman Buzdar.
An official handout issued by the provincial assembly secretariat, 127 provincial lawmakers signed the no-trust motion against Buzdar, while 120 signed the requisition notice to summon session within 14 days. PML-N lawmaker Rana Mashhood said in a video that Buzdar can’t dissolve the assembly once the no-trust move is submitted.
Khan came to power in 2018 with promises to create a ‘Naya Pakistan’ but miserably failed to address the basic problem of keeping the prices of commodities in control, giving air to the sails of opposition ships to make war on his government.
Khan, 69, is heading a coalition government and he can be removed if some of the partners decide to switch sides.