Pakistan’s Parliament is all set to vote on the crucial no-confidence resolution against Prime Minister Imran Khan who faces the possibility of being the first premier in the country’s history to be voted out in a no-trust motion. In line with a landmark Supreme Court order, the National Assembly's session for voting on the no-confidence motion against Khan will take place at 10:30am (local time). The opposition parties need 172 members in the 342-member house to orchestrate the downfall of Prime Minister Khan. They have garnered the support of more than the needed strength with the help of some allies of the ruling coalition and rebels from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of the 69-year-old cricketer-turned politician.
Pakistan’s opposition has completed its initial talks for the formation of a new government once Prime Minister Imran Khan is ousted on Saturday after the no-confidence motion and plans are afoot for the removal of President Arif Alvi and the return of deposed premier Nawaz Sharif from the UK, a media report said on Friday. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president and leader of opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, 70, who is the opposition’s candidate for the new prime minister, will announce his possible government priorities after taking the oath, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
In a landmark 5-0 verdict on Thursday, a five-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial ruled that National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri's ruling rejecting a no-confidence motion against Khan was "contrary to the Constitution and the law, and of no legal effect”. The apex court also declared the advice by the Prime Minister to President Alvi to dissolve the national assembly as “unconstitutional". The court ordered the speaker of the lower house to call the session of the national assembly on April 9 at 10 am (local time) to organise a no-confidence vote.
The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party led by 69-year-old Khan has vowed to make things as difficult for the opposition as they can, be it creating hurdles in the voting procedure or preventing the election of opposition nominee Shehbaz Sharif as the new leader of the house, The Dawn newspaper reported.
-Inputs from agencies
