With Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan facing a vote of no-confidence in the country’s parliament, the house was adjourned till March 28 (Monday) without tabling of the resolution.
The ruling PTI’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Shireen Mazari, Asad Umar and Ali Muhammad Khan were among those attending the session, as well as Grand Democratic Alliance’s Dr Fehmida Mirza.
From the opposition ranks, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, PPP Chairman Bilalwal Bhutto-Zardari and PPP co-chair Asif Ali Zardari, were also present.
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The session began with the recitation of the Holy Quran and prayers for late MNA Khayal Zaman, former president Rafiq Tarar and Senator Rehman Malik. However, NA speaker Asad Qaiser announced that it would be adjourned in light of parliamentary convention.
Qaiser stated that according to tradition, the agenda is deferred to the next day when a member of the lower house passes. “This has happened for years,” he said, adding that this had happened a total of 24 times in the past.
He once again asserted that he would conduct proceedings “as per rules and procedures” after which he adjourned the session till 4pm on March 28.
The National Assembly Secretariat had on Thursday issued a 15-point ‘Orders of the Day’ for the NA session, which included the no-confidence resolution.
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, who had earlier told Dawn that there was no plan to adjourn the session, took to Twitter to state that “nothing would happen” during today’s sitting.
Notably, acting on mutual hatred to oust Imran Khan, the Opposition parties submitted the no-confidence motion in National Assembly on March 8. In the 342-member National Assembly, the Imran Khan government requires at least 172 members to sail through the no-confidence vote.
Ahead of the National Assembly session on no-confidence motion against the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, Bilawal Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Thursday announced that matters had been settled with key government ally, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and that the ruling coalition member will vote in favour of the motion to oust Imran Khan, local media reported.