Voting on no-confidence motion expected to be held today after Iftar, says PML-N lawmaker

Islamabad, Apr 9 (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.

A crucial session of the National Assembly to decide the fate of Prime Minister Khan began on Saturday. Shortly afterwards, however, Speaker Asad Qaiser decided to adjourn the session when Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif took the floor on point of order and made a small speech reminding the Speaker that he was bound to go ahead as per the apex court’s order.

During his speech, the lawmakers of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) kept interrupting by constantly speaking and kept calling him a “beggar” — a tacit reference to his recent statement where he said, "beggars can’t be choosers".

Speaking in the National Assembly session after the adjournment, Khawaja Saad Rafique of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said the speaker had promised that the voting would be held after Iftar.

According to Geo News, the voting is expected to take place after 8 PM. The session was originally adjourned till 12:30 pm, but was seemingly delayed as Opposition and government members held meetings.

Separately, the government has filed a review petition against the apex court's decision to set aside the deputy speaker's April 3 ruling, the Dawn newspaper reported.

In a landmark 5-0 verdict on Thursday, a five-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial ruled that NA deputy speaker Qasim Suri's ruling rejecting a no-confidence motion against Khan was "contrary to the Constitution”.

The apex court also declared the advice by Prime Minister Khan to President Arif Alvi to dissolve the NA as “unconstitutional" and ordered the speaker of the lower house to call a session on Saturday to organise the no-confidence vote.