no-confidence resolution
ISLAMABAD
The National Assembly will meet on Friday to deliberate on the opposition’s no-confidence resolution against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The session, which will be the 41st of the current National Assembly, has been summoned after the joint opposition made the requisition for it under Article 54 of the Constitution along with the submission of the no-confidence motion against the prime minister on March 8. National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar has summoned the session at the Parliament House at 11:00am.
Earlier, Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari hit out at the government and Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaisar for allegedly “violating the Constitution” by exceeding the 14-day limit of convening a National Assembly session after a requisition of the session was filed by the opposition. According to Article 54, once a session of the National Assembly has been requisitioned with signatures of at least 25 percent of the members on it, the speaker has a maximum of 14 days to summon a session.
Therefore, the speaker had to call the lower house in session by March 22.
Bilawal accused the NA speaker of flouting the Constitution, saying the opposition would pursue the matter legally at the Supreme Court. “Our lawyers will raise legal and constitutional points on the matter and our case is strong,” he said. He pointed out that there was a 14-day limit after the requisition to call a session, stressing that the speaker could not go beyond the limit as it was “unconstitutional”. TLTP
