Pakistan: No-Confidence vote against Imran Khan expected to be held late evening

The voting in the Pakistan National Assembly over the noconfidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to be held after 8 pm local time on SaturdayThe session was adjourned as the opposition parties continued to chant slogans pressing for the taking up of the noconfidence motion while Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was speaking in the National Assembly local media reportedIn an apparent move seen as part of the strategy of the ruling Pakistan TehrikeInsaf PTI to delay the proceedings Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser while chairing the Saturday session to take up the noconfidence motion against the Prime Minister Imran Khanled government said that the House should also hold a discussion on the issue of international conspiracyThe Speakers suggestion was met with strong protest by the Opposition MPs who asked the Chair to stick to the mandate of the session spelt out by the Supreme CourtUrging the Speaker to carry out the proceedings of the House according to the norms of the Constitution Shahbaz Sharif Leader of Opposition in Pakistan National Assembly stated I hope you Speaker will carry out todays 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 convictionDuring the session Foreign Minister and PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi made it clear that it is the duty of the government to defend the noconfidence motion It is the Constitutional right of the Opposition to move a noconfidence motion against the government and its the governments duty to defend it he addedProceedings of the Pakistan National Assembly session with the specific mandate to take up the noconfidence motion against the Imran Khanled government and the election of the new leader of the House got underway on SaturdayHeavy security has been deployed outside the Pakistan National Assembly in IslamabadLeader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif Pakistan Peoples Party PPP Chairman Bilawal BhuttoZardari Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz PMLN Vice President Maryam Nawaz and other MNAs are attending the session of the National Assembly reported Geo NewsThe Supreme Court had on Thursday ordered the incumbent government to face the noconfidence motion on Saturday The court had turned down the ruling of the Deputy Speaker to reject the noconfidence motionThe top courts directives came after Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial took suo motu cognisance of Deputy Speaker Qasim Suris ruling and the subsequent dissolution of the National Assembly declaring all the decisions unconstitutionalAs 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 sessionThe voting on the noconfidence motion is at the fourth position in the sixpoint agenda issued for todaySpeaker Asad Qaiser can 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 reported Geo NewsIt is pertinent to mention here that the Opposition has submitted the noconfidence motions against the Speaker and Deputy Speaker However Asad Qaiser can chair todays session according to the rulesThe National Assembly officials told Geo News that according to the SC larger benchs written order the NA Speaker has been made dutybound to proceed with the notrust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khanled government as per the April 3 agenda of the HouseThe NA officials said that the voting on the notrust motion could take place within seven days of its submission and last Sunday April 3 was the last day of voting So SCs larger bench ordered the Speaker to revive the April 3 agenda of the National Assembly and conduct voting on the noconfidence motion they added Therefore today April 9 will be considered the last day seventh day of voting on the noconfidence motion and it is essential to move with the set agenda reported Geo NewsThe NA officials said if the notrust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan succeeds the National Assembly session will be extended till Sunday to complete the process for the election of the new Leader of the House while the Secretariat will undertake the necessary documentationWhen asked if the government tried to get the voting on the notrust motion delayed for a day or a week the NA official said that in this situation the NA Speaker would violate SCs larger bench order and should get ready to face a fiveyear disqualification and contempt of courtDespite Imran Khanled PTI governments hectic efforts to avoid voting on the noconfidence motion the National Assembly will decide the fate of the premier todayMeanwhile the ruling party has prepared its strategy to scuttle the proceedings and delay the voting by asking its MPs to give lengthy speeches on the foreign conspiracy reported Geo NewsThe same was endorsed by Federal Minister for Information Fawad ChauhdryTalking to Geo News he said that the foreign secretary is going to brief the House on the threat letter so the voting on noconfidence may not happen and maybe deferred till next weekThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever