Islamabad, (Samajweekly) Speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly (NA), Asad Qaiser had opposed the PTI leadership’s script of rejecting the vote of no-confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan under Article 5 of the Constitution, a media report said citing sources.
On Sunday, the National Assembly had to vote on the no-trust motion against Khan, but NA Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri ruled out the motion under Article 5.
Subsequently, President Arif Alvi dissolved the NA on the premier’s advice and ordered fresh polls in the country.
According to legal and constitutional experts, by not conducting a vote on the no-trust motion and subsequently dissolving assemblies, the PTI leadership has subverted the Constitution and interpreted article 5 wrongly as it is openly a violation and abrogation of the Constitution.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial on Sunday took notice of the political situation in the country and said that “any orders and actions that Prime Minister Khan and President Alvi regarding the dissolution of the NA shall be subject to the order of this court”.
On the day of voting, the NA Speaker Qaiser did not preside over the lower house session.
Instead, Deputy Speaker Suri conducted the session and left the country in a tumultuous situation, Geo News reported.
Sources close to Qaiser said that he was not ready to give a ruling under article 5 of the Constitution to reject the no-trust motion against Khan.
Qaiser has expressed concern with the PTI leadership over ruling under Article 5, said sources.
As per the sources, the premier’s legal team endeavoured to woo Qaiser to foil the trust motion; however, he disagreed with the legal team’s point of view and refrained from attending the lower house session.
