PESHAWAR: Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani has immediately convened sitting of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday (today) that was earlier adjourned till May 10.

The assembly secretariat said in a notification on Sunday evening that Speaker Ghani while exercising his powers under paragraph (b) of Rule 21 of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Procedure and Conduct of Business Rules, 1988 had called the sitting on Monday. The proceedings will start at 1pm.

Minister for Labour and Sports Shaukat Ali Yousafzai, who is also chief whip of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in the assembly, told Dawn that the sitting had been called in response to the joint opposition’s move, which had submitted a notice for a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Friday.

“We have convened the sitting to teach the opposition a lesson as to how they could pass the no-confidence motion against the chief minister while not having the required majority in the house,” he said.

Minister says session has been convened to teach opposition a lesson over no-trust move

PTI is the single largest party in the 145-member house with 94 members, while 51 MPAs sit on the opposition benches. The provincial assembly is already in session and the speaker had adjourned the sitting to May 10.

The motion submitted to the assembly secretariat states: “We beg to move that leave may be granted under sub-rule (1) of rule 18D of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Procedure and Conduct of Business Rules to move a resolution of no-confidence against the chief minister under Article 136 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”

The proposed resolution states: “Whereas Mahmood Khan has ceased to command the confidence of the majority of the members of this assembly as the chief minister, it is hereby resolved that Mr Mahmood Khan shall stand ceased to hold the said office.”

About the opposition’s move, Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Nighat Orakzai said that the objective behind the notice was to preempt the ousted prime minister Imran Khan from dissolving the KP Assembly. As head of his party PTI, Khan can advise the chief minister to ask the governor for the dissolution of the assembly.

She described Imran Khan as stubborn, of whom one could expect any unconstitutional step. She said that Khan had also made speaker of National Assembly a scapegoat to fulfil his unconstitutional actions.

Sources in the opposition told Dawn that they had not done any homework to successfully pass the no-confidence motion against the chief minister. “Frankly speaking, the opposition has not done any groundwork needed to make the motion a success,” said a member of the opposition benches, on condition of anonymity.

The member said that the opposition needed to break 28 lawmakers from the ranks of the ruling party for passing the no-confidence motion which is impossible.

The source said that the opposition might withdraw the notice on Monday.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2022