Opposition parties in the National Assembly on Sunday (April 9 night) defeated the ruling PTI government of Imran Khan in the no-confidence resolution with 174 votes. The vote on the no confidence motion came after the Supreme Court order of April 7. Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial read out the decision which in part said:
The Speaker is under a duty to summon and hold a sitting of the Assembly in the present Session, and shall do so immediately and in any case not later than 10:30 a.m. on Saturday 09.04.2022, to conduct the business of the House as per the Orders of the Day that had been issued for 03.04.2022"The Speaker shall not, in exercise of his powers under clause (3) Article 54 of the Constitution, prorogue the Assembly and bring the Session to an end""If the Resolution is passed by the requisite majority (i.e., the no-confidence resolution is successful) then the Assembly shall forthwith, and in its present Session, proceed to elect a Prime Minister".
On April 9, while the National Assembly was debating the no confidence motion against Imran Khan, Pakistan Supreme Court was opened and CJ and other bench member judges arrived apparently to take action if the National Assembly fails to meet the deadline to vote on the motion. Media reports indicated that while the National Assembly was debating the no confidence motion prison vans were stationed outside the National Assembly, apparently to take away officials guilty of contempt. There was speculation that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker could be arrested if the vote was not held by midnight as ordered by the Supreme Court.
NA Deputy speaker dismisses no-trust move against PM Imran
On April 3, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri dismissed the no-trust move against Prime Minister Imran Khan, terming it against Article 5 of the Constitution.
Suri chaired today's session after opposition parties filed a no-confidence motion against Speaker Asad Qaiser.
According to Article 5:
(1) Loyalty to the State is the basic duty of every citizen
(2) Obedience to the Constitution and law is the [inviolable] obligation of every citizen wherever he may be and of every other person for the time being within Pakistan
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that loyalty to the state was the basic duty of every citizen under Article 5(1). He reiterated the premier's earlier claims that a foreign conspiracy was behind the move to oust the government.
"On March 7, our official ambassador was invited to a meeting attended by the representatives of other countries. The meeting was told that a motion against PM Imran was being presented," he said, noting that this occurred a day before the opposition formally filed the no-trust move.
"We were told that relations with Pakistan were dependent on the success of the no-confidence motion. We were told that if the motion fails, then Pakistan's path would be very difficult. This is an operation for a regime change by a foreign government," he alleged.
The minister questioned how this could be allowed and called on the deputy speaker to decide the constitutionality of the no-trust move.
Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri pointed out that the motion was presented on March 8 and should follow the law and the Constitution. "No foreign power shall be allowed to topple an elected government through a conspiracy," he said, adding that the points raised by the minister were "valid".
He dismissed the resolution, ruling that it was "contradictory" to the law, the Constitution and the rules. The session was then immediately prorogued.
What's in the letter?
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