Pakistan parliament session on Imran’s fate to continue until midnight

The historic session of Pakistan’s National Assembly on the no-confidence motion against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan began on Saturday morning — and after three breaks, the session was scheduled to begin this evening.

Geo TV says the session is likely to continue until 12:00 midnight, while Prime Minister Imran Khan has summoned a meeting of the federal cabinet at 9:00 pm on Saturday.

What has happened so far?

During the first break — which lasted more than two hours —  the opposition leaders held a consultative meeting in the Leader of the opposition Shahbaz Sharif's chamber to discuss a counter-strategy for the government's alleged plan to prolong the session so that voting could not take place today. 

But later, the government and the opposition of the country reached a consensus regarding maintaining order in the house and allowing the speeches to take place uninterrupted.

From the opposition’s side, JUI-F leader Maulana Asad Mahmood assured the members of the treasury benches that they will not interrupt speeches delivered from the government’s side; however, he warned that if the MNAs from the treasury benches created a ruckus, the joint Opposition leaders will also react accordingly.

Meanwhile, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb claimed that the opposition had not accepted any of the conditions put forward by the government, and reiterated that the voting on the no-confidence motion must take place today.  

She further said that no conditions of the government will be entertained and that no-time frame has been finalised for the voting either.

Aurangzeb also reiterated that delay in the voting on the no-confidence motion was tantamount to a violation of the Supreme Court’s verdict and the Constitution, warning the speaker that the punishment for this is three years of imprisonment and five years of disqualification.