Pakistan: Parliament session adjourned till Sunday without debate on no-trust motion against Imran Khan

Islamabad: Pakistan’s National Assembly session was on Thursday adjourned abruptly till Sunday after opposition lawmakers demanded an immediate vote on a no-confidence motion against embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan who has effectively lost majority in the lower house.

As soon as the National Assembly session began at the Parliament House, Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri opened the floor for questions.

However, opposition lawmakers demanded an immediate vote on the no-confidence motion amid chants of “go Imran go”.

Suri termed the opposition’s attitude “non-serious” and adjourned the session till 11:30 am Sunday when the vote on the no-confidence motion is expected to take place.

The deputy speaker also announced that the meeting of the parliamentary committee would be held in Committee Room No 2.

Earlier, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Babar Awan moved a motion to adjourn the session so the assembly hall could be used for the Parliamentary Committee on National Security’s meeting. The motion was rejected after voting.

The resolution against the embattled premier 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.

The Assembly secretariat had issued a 24-point agenda for Thursday’s session and the no-confidence motion was fourth on the agenda.

Sharif had tabled the motion under Article A-95 of the Constitution, and it had 161 members as signatories. While tabling the motion, Sharif had said he was presenting the no-confidence motion against prime minister Khan. Prime Minister Khan also chaired a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) - the highest forum for coordination on security issues - at the Prime Minister’s House on Thursday.

The meeting comes a day after Khan shared some content of a letter - purportedly showing evidence of a foreign conspiracy to oust his government - with his cabinet members and a selected group of journalists.

Khan waved the purported letter at a public rally on 27 March and claimed that a foreign conspiracy was afoot to remove him from power, touting the Opposition’s no-confidence move against him as a testimony of foreign funded move to topple his government.

Several Opposition leaders had asked Khan to divulge the details of the letter while denouncing it as an effort to divert pressure and hold on to power.

Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .