Pakistan’s ruling party led by prime minister Imran Khan in all likelihood will face a no-confidence motion from Monday as the speaker of the National Assembly suspended the session on Friday after paying tributes to a few former members who died recently. The decision had given temporary relief to the ruling dispensation in Islamabad as Imran Khan was busy garnering support for his party to save the government.
As the highly charged session began, speaker of the national assembly Asad Qaiser paid tributes to former president Rafiq Tarar, member Khayal Zaman Orakzai, and senator Rehman Malik after which he adjourned the session in line with the parliamentary convention. Talking to the reporters outside the parliamentary enclave Qaiser said, “this has been the practice and has happened for years, the house will meet on Monday again,”.
Imran Khan government is facing a difficult situation as more than 15 Members of the National Assembly (MNA) from his own party are said to be with the opposition camp and might vote in favour of the no-confidence motion brought by the opposition parties. There are reports that the deep state of Pakistan, the Pakistani military which played an active role in the 2018 election to help Imran Khan, is now neutral and not helping him in the moment of crisis. Khan had asked people to come out on the streets in his support on Sunday before the no-confidence motion was taken up by the National assembly. Imran Khan said, “I want the entire nation to join me on March 27 to send one message: that we are not with evil, we are against it. That we are against the crimes being committed against democracy and the nation, where the conscience of public representatives have been sold and buyed,”.
The opposition is arguing that it is in the interest of the country to remove the PTI government led by Imran Khan as Pakistan has plunged into an economic crisis of imaginable magnitude under him. The opposition parties jointly submitted a no-confidence motion on March 8. In the 342-member National Assembly, Imran Khan needs the support of at least 172 members.