The much-awaited and critical National Assembly (NA) session on the vote of the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan was adjourned till Monday (March 28) by National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser.
“Since this is the tradition of this house, that whenever a respectable member [of the assembly] passes away, the [NA] session is adjourned till the next [working] day in their honour,” said Qaiser. “This has happened for years and this had happened a total of 24 times in the past.”
Addressing a press conference outside Parliament House right after the session was adjourned, Leader of the Opposition in NA Shehbaz Sharif said that the Speaker has become a “stooge” of PM Khan.
“This was a constitutional obligation and he violated the Constitution by not doing this,” said Shehbaz adding, “The Constitution and the law is above tradition and voting should have been allowed … tradition aside, the Speaker should have taken up the motion [but] he did not listen and left.”
Shehbaz tweeted, “This partisan behaviour does not suit the custodian of the House. U cannot stop the inevitable through such underhand tactics!”
Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that PM Khan was “fleeing the pitch”.
Taking to Twitter, Bilawal wrote, “Speaker provided another weak excuse to avoid tabling the no-trust move.”
“Imran can’t run forever. PM has no sportsman spirit and cannot face defeat with grace. The once great Kaptaan will go down like a rat on a sinking ship,” he said.
Prior to the session, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry tweeted, “Nothing will happen in the assembly session today.”