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- NA session summoned in line with Supreme Court’s order.
- SC blocked deputy speaker’s ruling to block no-trust vote.
- Voting on no-trust motion to take place at 10:30am.
Despite the PTI government’s hectic efforts to avoid voting on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, the National Assembly will decide the fate of the premier today.
The Supreme Court had on Thursday ordered the government to hold voting on the motion on Saturday at all costs according to the agenda issued for April 03 session when the deputy speaker rejected the motion through a ruling declaring it “unconstitutional” and a “foreign conspiracy”.
The top court’s directives came after Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial took suo motu notice of Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s ruling and the subsequent dissolution of the assembly, declaring all the decisions unconstitutional.
As per the order of the Supreme Court voting is to be held at all costs today and in case the PM is voted out, the election of a new Leader of the House will be held during the same session. The voting on the no-confidence motion is at the fourth position in the six-point agenda issued for today.
Speaker Asad Qaiser could not take up agenda other than voting on the motion and if he did not do so, he would have to face contempt of court proceedings.
It is pertinent to mention that the Opposition has submitted the no-confidence motions against the speaker and deputy speaker, however. Asad Qaiser can chair today’s session according to the rules.
The National Assembly officials told Geo News that according to the SC larger bench’s written order, the NA Speaker has been made duty-bound to proceed with the no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan as per the April 3 agenda of the National Assembly.
The NA officials said that the voting on the no-trust motion could take place within seven days of its submission and last Sunday (April 3) was the last day of voting, so SC’s larger bench ordered the speaker to revive the April 3 agenda of the National Assembly and conduct voting on the no-confidence motion. Therefore, today (April 9) will be considered the last day (seventh day) of voting on the no-confidence motion and it is essential to move with the set agenda.
They said that it is written in the para 10 of the SC order if no trust motion succeeds, the NA speaker will make sure to elect the Leader of the House as per Article 91 of the Constitution and Article 32 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly.
The NA officials said if the no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan succeeds, the National Assembly session will be prorogued till Sunday for the election of the new Leader of the House and the National Assembly Secretariat would begin with its necessary documentation.
The NA Secretariat has prepared forms for the nomination of the new Leader of the House and those forms would be issued as soon as the session is prorogued and scrutiny of the nomination forms will be completed till night and the list of the candidates for PM’s slot will be issued at night and after that, the National Assembly will elect new prime minister on Sunday.
To a question that the government wants to hold a debate on the issue of the letter, the NA official said it was impossible. They said the government will have to submit a separate resolution in the NA Secretariat for the debate on the letter and briefing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs secretary to the House and will have to seek the permission of the House if the House should be converted into a standing committee. The opposition enjoys itself majority in the House, so it can reject this resolution.
When asked if the government tried to get the voting on the no-trust motion delayed for a day or a week, the NA official said that in this situation, the NA Speaker would violate SC’s larger bench order and should get ready to face 5-year disqualification and contempt of court.
Govt’s strategy
On the other hand, the ruling party has prepared its strategy to scuttle the proceedings and delay the voting by allowing MPs lengthy speeches on the ‘foreign conspiracy”.
The same was endorsed by Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chauhdry.
Talking to Geo News, he said that the foreign secretary is going to brief the House on the “threat letter”, so the voting on no-confidence may not happen and may be deferred till next week.