Pak Opposition Meets NA Speaker, Request Him To Hold No-Trust Vote Against PM Imran Khan

On Saturday, the National Assembly convened for the first time in history to decide Prime Minister Khan's destiny.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. (Source: Getty Images)

New Delhi: Following the adjournment of the session due to ruckus in Parliament, a delegation of Pakistan Opposition leaders met with National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser in his chamber on Saturday and demanded immediate voting on the no-confidence motion that could seal the fate of the embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan, news agency PTI reported.

On Saturday, the National Assembly convened for the first time in history to decide Prime Minister Khan's destiny.

However, Speaker Qaiser opted to postpone the session shortly after when Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif entered the floor on a point of order and made a brief statement reminding the Speaker that he was required to follow the top court's judgement.

During his address, MPs from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) began interrupting and labelling him a "beggar" – a clear allusion to his previous comment that "beggars can't be choosers."

Following the adjournment of the National Assembly (NA) session, a team from the united opposition met with Speaker National Assembly Qaiser in his chamber to encourage him to fulfil his constitutional duties to the house, according to The Express Tribune newspaper.

The opposition urged that the vote on the no-confidence resolution be held on Saturday, as ordered by the Supreme Court.

The delegation insisted that the house be managed in accordance with the Supreme Court's order and that legislators from the Treasury benches were purposefully causing a commotion in parliament.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto was also part of the combined opposition delegation.

To depose Prime Minister Khan, the opposition parties require 172 votes in the House of Representatives with 342 members. With the backing of certain ruling coalition allies and dissidents from the 69-year-old cricketer-turned-Pakistan politician's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, they have amassed more than the required strength.

In a landmark 5-0 verdict on Thursday, a five-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial ruled that NA deputy speaker Qasim Suri's ruling rejecting a no-confidence motion against Khan was "contrary to the Constitution”.

The apex court also declared the advice by Prime Minister Khan to President Arif Alvi to dissolve the NA as “unconstitutional" and ordered the speaker of the lower house to call a session on Saturday to organise the no-confidence vote.

Khan, who has effectively lost the majority in the 342-member house, seemed to accept the writing on the wall and urged his supporters to stage peaceful protests across the country when the "new imported government" comes into power on Sunday.

(With PTI Inputs)