ISLAMABAD: After the government faced defeat in a vote on a motion for allowing the assembly hall to be used for a security briefing, Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri on Thursday adjourned the National Assembly sitting within minutes, without allowing the much-anticipated debate on the no-confidence resolution against Prime Minister Imran Khan, despite calls from the opposition benches.

Members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Shahzain Bugti of the Jamhoori Watan Party — the three former allies of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) — sat on the opposition benches, thus proving that the prime minister has now clearly lost his majority in the 342-member house.

The deputy speaker adjourned the sitting until Sunday morning, when the house is expected to vote on the no-trust resolution.

Later, speaking at a news conference, opposition leaders lambasted the deputy speaker for not initiating the promised debate on the resolution, claiming that as many as 175 members were present in the house on the opposition benches.

NA adjourned within minutes amid loud demands for immediate voting on no-trust

The house witnessed some interesting scenes when the deputy speaker opened the question hour and the opp­o­sition members, one after the other refused to ask any supplementary questions, instead asking the speaker to tell them when he would be putting the no-trust resolution to a vote.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Tahira Aurangzeb was the first given the floor by Mr Suri to ask a supplementary question. Taking the floor, the unprepared MNA asked her colleagues on the opposition benches whether she should ask the question or not. Then, on the advice of her party leadership, she said she was not interested in asking the question and urged the chair to put the resolution for a vote.

Later, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Shazia Marri, Chaudhry Faqeer Ahmed and Sheikh Rohail Asghar, whose questions were there in the list, also said that they had decided to forego their questions, stating that they had come to the house only to cast their vote for the no-confidence resolution.

“Since no one is serious and there is no [conducive] atmosphere, the house stands adjourned to meet again at 11.30am on Sunday,” declared the deputy speaker amid loud sloganeering by the opposition members.

The house witnessed a rumpus for a brief period when some treasury members also responded to the opposition’s slogans.

At one point, senior opposition leaders, including Khawaja Asif, prevented a likely untoward situation when they intercepted BAP’s parliamentary leader Khalid Magsi who was angrily rushing towards the treasury benches chanting slogans ‘lota, lota’ (turncoat) while pointing towards him.

At the outset, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan moved a motion seeking permission of the house to allow the use of assembly chamber for an in-camera meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on the National Security (PCNS) convened by Speaker Asad Qaiser at 6pm on Thursday.

The deputy speaker rejected the motion after a voice vote as the opposition members had clearly outnumbered the treasury lawmakers. Mr Suri then announced that the meeting of the committee would be held in a committee room.

Opposition’s press conference

Speaking at a news conference outside the Parliament House, PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif said the deputy speaker was supposed to start a debate on the no-confidence resolution, but he “ran away” when the opposition demanded a vote on it.

Mr Sharif said that after the adjournment of the sitting, he and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari went to the National Assembly secretary who told them that he had reminded Mr Suri that he was to initiate the debate.

The opposition leader said they had submitted the no-confidence resolution on March 8 and since then, the government had been using delaying tactics and constantly violating the Constitution.

“We have completed the 172 number. They were present in parliament. Now the ‘selected’ prime minister has no political, moral, constitutional or legal justification to stay in the office,” declared Mr Sharif.

He lashed out at Imran Khan for accusing PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif of conniving with Israel’s intelligence agency for toppling the PTI government and termed these allegations “absurd”. Instead, he asked Imran Khan to disclose the details of the foreign funds which his party had received from India and Israel.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari said there was no “safe passage, amnesty or backdoor exit for Imran Khan”, adding that “the only honourable way for him [Imran Khan] is to resign so that Shehbaz Sharif can take the seat of the prime minister”.

“Imran Khan is our political opposition. I want him to be a sportsman. He had his innings and now after resigning become leader of opposition,” he said.

The PPP chairman was of the view that Mr Khan had been wrongly advised by some people to call a democratic process of no-confidence motion an international conspiracy.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2022