Pakistan PM Imran Khan addresses the nation on Friday. (Photo: Instagram)Pakistan Political Crisis News LIVE: The National Assembly has started voting on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, Geo News reported. Meanwhile, Speaker Asad Qaiser and Deputy speaker Qasim Suri announced their resignations. Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan held an emergency meeting of his Cabinet on Saturday night, even though his government is expected to lose a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly, according to local media reports. Khan summoned the Cabinet meeting at 9.00 pm at the Prime Ministers’ House. Important decisions are expected in the meeting, Geo News reported quoting high-level sources. Meanwhile, the House which met this morning, has been adjourned abruptly amid Opposition’s demand for immediate voting.
Meanwhile, Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government on Saturday filed a review petition in the Supreme Court challenging its decision to declare the ruling of the deputy speaker to dismiss the no-confidence resolution against the prime minister as unconstitutional. The review petition, filed through Dr Babar Awan and Azhar Siddique, named the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Supreme Court Bar Association, Sindh High Court Bar Association and the Sindh Bar Council as respondents.
Imran Khan Friday accepted the Supreme Court’s verdict and urged his supporters to stage peaceful protests across the country when the “new imported government” comes into power Sunday. In an address to the nation on the eve of a no-trust motion he has little chance of defeating, Khan, 69, cited the example of India as a “self-respecting nation” (khuddar qaum) which no world power can dictate terms to.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan arrives to attend a military parade to mark Pakistan National Day in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, March 23, 2022. (AP/File)
Pakistani opposition political parties have introduced a no-confidence vote in parliament seeking the ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan, largely on accusations of economic mismanagement.
The bid to oust Khan got a boost on Wednesday when a key government ally said it reached a pact with the opposition and then quit Khan’s ruling coalition.
Khan’s ouster is likely to bring another round of instability in the nuclear armed country, in which the military has a long record of intervening in politics. Read More
The National Assembly has started voting on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, Geo News reported.
Pakistan Speaker Asad Qaiser and Deputy speaker Qasim Suri resigned before the voting of the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, Geo News reported quoting sources.
The National Assembly is expected to hold voting soon on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, Geo News reported.
Pakistan's army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Saturday met Prime Minister Imran Khan amid an impasse over a parliamentary vote to oust the premier, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Khan tried to block a no-confidence motion last week and dissolved the lower house of parliament, but Pakistan's top court ordered on Thursday the vote would have to be held by Saturday.The vote is yet to happen despite the passage of nearly 12 hours since the session started on Saturday. (Reuters)
The ruling PTI has submitted a reference against 20 deviant members to National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser as they aim to get dissident party members unseated. The reference against the members was filed under Article 63(A), Pakistan's Geo News reported.
Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari, speaking in the National Assembly, alleged that the US has an influence on Pakistan politics. "This has been the tradition of the United States. They have done the same in Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria. In recent days, Biden has threatened Turkey and Russia. You go and beg from the United States, but this nation will not bow down," she was quoted as saying by Pakistani news media Dawn.
The National Assembly session, during which voting on a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan is to be held, has been adjourned yet again and is now expected to resume at 9:30 pm, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported.
The session will likely continue till 12 am (local time), while PM Imran Khan has summoned a meeting of the federal cabinet at 9 pm, reports Pakistan's Geo News quoting National Assembly Secretariat sources.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday told Parliament that the US national security adviser telephoned his Pakistani counterpart and "categorically asked us not to proceed with the Russia tour" of Prime Minister Imran Khan in February.
In a lengthy address to the National Assembly, ahead of a vote on a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Khan, Qureshi talked major foreign policy issues, especially the alleged regime change being plotted by the US in Pakistan. "Today Pakistan is standing at a historic juncture and the people need to decide whether they want to live in an independent state or become slaves [to the West],” the 65-year-old politician said, acknowledging that today might be his last day as the foreign minister of Pakistan.
“As the foreign minister of Pakistan, I want to bring this to record that when the decision to visit Moscow was taken after due deliberation because of Pakistan's better future and was taken months before the Ukraine situation emerged,” he said, referring to the controversy generated by Prime Minister Khan's maiden visit to Russia for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin. (PTI)
The National Assembly session, which was adjourned on account of iftar and Maghrib prayers break, has resumed.
The National Assembly session has been adjourned till 7:30 pm on account of iftar and Maghrib prayers break, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported.
Pakistan's I&B Minister Choudhary Fawad Hussain changes his Twitter account bio to former I&B minister ahead of voting on no-confidence motion against PM Imran Khan.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has summoned a meeting of his cabinet ministers late on Saturday night, even though his government is expected to lose the no-confidence motion scheduled to take place later in the evening, according to local media reports.
Khan has summoned the Cabinet Meeting at 9.00 PM at the Prime Ministers' House here. Important decisions are expected in the meeting, Geo News reported quoting high-level sources. However, the meeting has taken many by surprise as the no-confidence vote is expected to be completed by around 8.00 PM and Khan has little chance of surviving it. (PTI)
Imran Khan is the “first captain who is running from the pitch with wickets because he fears that he will lose the match,” Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said in the National Assembly on Saturday, as he asked the embattled Prime Minister to “show some sportsman spirit,” before leaving office.
The PPP Chairman trained his guns on Khan, who was conspicuous by his absence in the National Assembly, when the session began at 10.30 am on Saturday, in line with the landmark Supreme Court order.
“Imran Khan is not present in the Parliament because he cannot defend himself. Conspiracies against the constitution will not succeed,” he said, while adding that before Khan leaves his office, he should “show some sportsman spirit.” Bilawal told the Speaker Asad Qaiser that he was violating the Constitution and the court's order. (PTI)
The much-awaited voting on the no-confidence motion against embattled Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to take place after Iftar, the meal eaten after sunset during Ramzan to break the day's fast, a lawmaker from the Opposition PML-N party said in Parliament on Saturday. (PTI)
In his speech in parliament, former Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari called for voting on the no-confidence motion against embattled PM Imran Khan, Dawn reported. According to the report, he lamented the devaluation of the rupee and the hike in interest rates by the country's central bank.
Paramilitary soldiers stand guard on a road leading to the parliament building in Islamabad, Pakistan. (Reuters)
PPP Chief Bilawal Bhutto in Pakistan parliament said that he "had warned PM Imran Khan to stay away from Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, or else he will trap him and he has trapped him", Dawn reported.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government led by Imran Khan has filed a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict on the Deputy Speaker’s ruling over the no-trust motion in the National Assembly, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported.