No-trust motion against PM Imran placed on NA agenda for tomorrow

• No-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan has been placed on the agenda for tomorrow’s session of the lower house.
• “If leave is granted, resolution for vote of no-confidence against the Prime Minister to be moved,” read the agenda. 
• “This House is of the view that PM Imran Khan has lost the confidence of the majority of the members of the NA, therefore he should cease to hold office,” it added.    

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly secretariat Thursday night issued the agenda for the crucial Friday’s session of the House.

According to the orders of the day issued by the NA secretariat, besides other issues, the no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan has also been placed on the agenda for tomorrow’s session of the lower house.

The 41st session of the NA will start with the recitation from the Holy Quran. Later, the no-trust motion against the premier will be tabled in the house.

“This House is of the view that PM Imran Khan has lost the confidence of the majority of the members of the National Assembly of Pakistan, therefore, he should cease to hold office,” read the agenda.

It added that the leave is granted to move a resolution for a vote of no-confidence under Article 95(1) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, read with rule 37 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007, against Imran Khan.

“If leave is granted, resolution for a vote of no-confidence against the prime minister to be moved,” it added.

It is pertinent to mention here that the National Assembly will meet at the Parliament House in Islamabad at 11 am tomorrow. NA Speaker Asad Qaisar has summoned the session on the requisition from the opposition benches.

NA speaker vows to run assembly proceeding as per Article 95

On March 23, after accusations of being “biased” and a “party to PM Imran Khan” ahead of the voting on the no-confidence motion against the premier, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser had clarified that he would act according to the law and would run the assembly's proceeding as per Article 95 of the Constitution.

Taking to Twitter, Qaiser had written: “I, as the custodian of the National Assembly of Pakistan, will fulfil my constitutional obligations and will proceed in accordance with Article 95 of the Constitution and rule 37 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.”

On March 14, Qaiser had said he would follow the law during the voting on the no-confidence motion after the Opposition took strong exception to his remarks about the possibility of the failure of the no-confidence motion against PM Imran Khan.

'Lawmakers bound to follow party policy'

The lawmakers are bound to follow the policy of the political party they are affiliated with, Justice Muneeb Akhtar of the Supreme Court said earlier today during the hearing of presidential reference seeking interpretation on Article 63(A).

A five-member larger bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Aijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel was hearing the reference along with a plea filed by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) against public gatherings of the Opposition and the government in the federal capital — ahead of the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

All the ways leading to Red Zone, including D-Chowk, Serena Chowk, NADRA Chowk and Merit Chowk had been barricaded with heavy police deployment to completely seal the area for the hearing of the presidential reference in the apex court.

Moreover, police personnel were also deputed in and outside the court with water cannons present nearby.

As a result, the petitioners out to visit SC and Pakistan Secretariat faced extreme inconvenience as only Margala Road was open.

"Lawmakers have to vote in accordance with their party's mandate. They have to follow the party policy. Full stop, that's it," Justice Akhtar said.

However, he noted that no MNA can be tagged as "good boy or bad boy".

Meanwhile, Justice Mandokhel remarked that Article 55 stipulates that all the parliamentary proceedings should be done through voting.

Whereas, CJP Bandial stated that Article 63(A) is a "discipline of the emerging political system."

"The article binds the lawmakers to stand by their party no matter even if they are unhappy with it."