No-confidence motion against Imran Khan adjourned till Monday

The much-anticipated session of the National Assembly with a crucial no-confidence motion — filed by the opposition against Prime Minister Imran Khan — on the agenda was adjourned till March 28 (Monday) without tabling of the resolution, Pakistani media The Dawn reports.

The ruling PTI's Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Shireen Mazari, Asad Umar and Ali Muhammad Khan were among those attending the session, as well as Grand Democratic Alliance's Dr Fehmida Mirza.

From the opposition ranks, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, PPP Chairman Bilalwal Bhutto-Zardari and PPP co-chair Asif Ali Zardari, were also present.

Reportedly, over 150 opposition lawmakers and around 50 treasury members attended the session. However, the exact numbers could not be ascertained.

The session began with the recitation of the Holy Quran and prayers for late MNA Khayal Zaman, former president Rafiq Tarar and Senator Rehman Malik. However, NA speaker Asad Qaiser announced that it would be adjourned in light of parliamentary convention.

It is parliamentary convention that the first sitting after the death of an MNA is limited to prayers for the soul of the departed and tributes fellow lawmakers wish to pay them.

Qaiser stated that according to tradition, the agenda is deferred to the next day when a member of the lower house passes. "This has happened for years," he said, adding that this had happened a total of 24 times in the past.

He once again asserted that he would conduct proceedings "as per rules and procedures" after which he adjourned the session till 4pm on March 28.

The National Assembly Secretariat had on Thursday issued a 15-point ‘Orders of the Day’ for the NA session, which included the no-confidence resolution.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, who had earlier told Dawn that there was no plan to adjourn the session, took to Twitter to state that "nothing would happen" during today's sitting.