The atmosphere was charged up with the Opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan se to be taken up by the house, and a likely voting on the same.
There were speculations that the opposition members might be prevented from reaching Parliament, or the trust vote process interrupted by engineered chaos.
However it was all peaceful and orderly as the session convened. This is how the day unfolded:
Inside parliament
Deputy speaker Qasin Khan Suri chaired the crucial session after opposition parties filed a no-confidence motion against Speaker Asad Qaiser.
He allowed infrmation minister Fawad Chaudhry to speak first.
“We were told that relations with Pakistan were dependent on the success of the no-confidence motion. We were told that if the motion fails, then Pakistan’s path would be very difficult. This is an operation for a regime change by a foreign government,” he alleged.
The minister questioned how this could be allowed and called on the deputy speaker Suri to decide the constitutionality of the no-trust move.
Suri rejected the no-confidence motion, terming it against Article 5 of the Constitution.
“No foreign power shall be allowed to topple an elected government through a conspiracy,” he said, adding that the points raised by the minister were “valid”.
According to Article 5:
Loyalty to the State is the basic duty of every citizen
Obedience to the Constitution and law is the [inviolable] obligation of every citizen wherever he may be and of every other person for the time being within Pakistan
Opposition members rose up in protest as supporters of the government exited the house.
Here’s how the numbers were stacked up against Imran Khan after several allies exited his coaltion to join opposition ranks.
Imran addresses nation again
Imran Khan was live on television soon after.
He congratulated Parliament for foiling what he called efforts of a foreign government to bring about a regime change in Pakistan.
He also said that he is recommending the dissolution of Parliament to President Arif Alvi, and asked the coubtry to prepare for fresh elections.
“I have written to the President to dissolve the assemblies. There should be elections in a democratic way. I call upon the people to Pakitan to prepare for elections,” Khan said.
President dissolves Assembly, calls for elections
Soon after recommendation from PM Khan, President Alvi ordered dissolution of Pakistan assembly and ordered fresh elections to be conducted within three months.
However it is still not clear who will be the caretaker prime minister in the interim.
Opposition cries foul
As expedted, the opposition considered legal recourse to the events in Pakistan Parliament on Sunday morning.
PPP Chairman Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari said that the government had violated the Constitution by not allowing voting to take place on the no-confidence motion.
Similar reactions came from other oppsition arties like PML-N.
“Having lost the majority in National Assembly, [he] chooses to bulldoze constitution. He will be defeated with unprecedented humiliation in history,” PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal said.
