As per Thursday’s SC ruling, no later than 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 3, the National Assembly speaker must convene a parliament session under the SC decision that the opposition’s no-trust resolution against the PM had to be discussed and put to vote in Parliament.
A sitting of the National Assembly must be held as soon as possible, and no later than 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. The speaker is obligated to follow the order issued for 03.04.2022 and the Constitution’s Article 95 and Rule 37, as well as the rules of procedure and conduct of business in the National Assembly Rules-2007, which mandates that a sitting be held as soon as possible.
The order of business for Saturday’s session of the National Assembly will most likely be released by the Secretariat today (Friday). There will be no adjournment until the motion or, if leave is granted, a vote on it has been decided.
As of March 7, the opposition had been talking of a no-confidence motion, saying National Assembly must hold a sitting on no-confidence motion against the PM, and as of March 25, the speaker had laid it on the table. He had to present the resolution to a vote by April 3 under the procedures. Among the six topics on the agenda on April 3 was a vote on the resolution.
Voting on the following motion filed by Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Leader of the Opposition on March 28, 2022, was item 4 on the National Assembly’s agenda on April 3.
Resolution: “This House has no confidence in the Prime Minister, Mr Imran Khan; and thus, he should be removed from office under clause (4) of Article 95 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”
Opposition MNAs chose Ayaz Sadiq as a speaker and carried a no-trust motion by 197 votes on April 3 after Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri had prorogued the National Assembly session. There were 144 treasury benches in all.
No-trust action has been filed against Asad Qaiser, but experts say he can still preside over the House of Representatives on Saturday.
A resolution to remove him from the office will not be discussed in an Assembly sitting if Article 53(4) of the Constitution is invoked by the Speaker or Deputy Speaker.
Asad Qaiser would be entitled to preside over Saturday’s sessions, according to their interpretation of the regulations, as long as the no-trust motion against him is still pending.
Works at The Truth International Magazine. My area of interest includes international relations, peace & conflict studies, qualitative & quantitative research in social sciences, and world politics. Reach@ aimen.bukhari@tti.org.pk
