Pakistan is on edge after opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif made a strong pitch on Saturday for the removal of Prime Minister Imran Khan ahead of voting in the National Assembly on a no-confidence motion that was sanctioned in dramatic fashion by the Supreme Court (SC)on Thursday.
But doubts were cast on whether Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek -e-Insaf (PTI) party wanted to smoothly follow the SC’s orders when Speaker Asad Qaiser said he would like the House to debate on the so-called "foreign conspiracy,” to destabilise Pakistan through the no-confidence motion with the help of the combined opposition.
Contesting the Speaker’s observation, combined opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif stressed that under the court's directives, you are bound to take up this agenda item and no other item. That is the intent of the order and you cannot deviate from it," he said, calling on the speaker to hold voting on the motion forthwith.
I hope you (Speaker) will carry out today's proceedings of the House as per the Supreme Court order. I urge you to stand for the Constitution and law. You must catch this moment with your conviction: Shahbaz Sharif, Leader of Opposition in Pakistan National Assembly pic.twitter.com/3H7c1jWxfH
— ANI (@ANI) April 9, 2022
"Today, parliament is going to defeat a selected prime minister in a constitutional manner," he declared.
Shehbaz appealed to the speaker to forget the acrimony of the past and defend the law and the Constitution. He urged Qaiser to play his role and to have his name "written in history in golden words".
"You must cash in on this moment with conviction and with your heart and your mind. Don't go off of the dictation of a selected prime minister," he urged the speaker.
Responding to Sharif’s plea, the Speaker assured the opposition leader that he would conduct proceedings according to the law and the Constitution.
While the opposition appeared in full strength at the National Assembly, only a handful of members of the treasury benches were visible in the House before the session was adjourned to reconvene at 1230 pm Pakistan time. The session has not resumed till the filing of this report. The Pakistani daily The News International reported that the delay in the resumption of the session is “raising suspicions about the government’s intentions despite the apex court’s clear directives to hold voting on the no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan today at all costs”.
Sharif hailed Thursday as a historic day, when the apex court threw out the deputy speaker's earlier ruling of disallowing the no-confidence motion, which was followed by the dissolution of the National Assembly. Sharif, the PML-N leader, said that Pakistan’s future was “bright” in the light of the SC verdict.
With his back to the wall, foreign minister Shah Mahmoud Qureshi sought to convey that the no-confidence motion had a hidden agenda—of implementing a conspiracy to remove the government by a foreign government.
Qureshi said that it is important to present the context under which the court directed to summon the session again, he added. He said that the clock was turned back and the apex court unanimously dismissed the April 3 ruling.
"He (prime minister) said let's go to the people and let them decide in whose hands they want to see Pakistan's future, “the minister said.
He questioned the rationale of the opposition parties to knock at the door of the Supreme Court and why the SC decided to take suo motu notice of the petition.
Ahead of the NA session, 175 opposition lawmakers met—a number that is sufficient to topple the Prime Minister.
