Pakistan national assembly gears up for the no-confidence vote Saturday morning. The national assembly will convene at 10.30 (Pakistan local time) in Islamabad and experts say that this could be the exit of the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
Imran Khan, however, is unlikely to go down without a fight. He and his cabinet ministers have threatened to present the ‘threatening’ cable or its contents in the assembly and force the speaker to hold a debate on the issue.
The aim could be likely to delay the voting and not hold it on Saturday. “The sitting won’t be prorogued until the motion is disposed of or, if leave is granted, voted upon,” news agency Dawn said in a report pointing towards the Supreme Court verdict.
The verdict, however, says that the voting should be held during the session and does not bind the Pakistan national assembly to hold the voting on the no-trust motion on Saturday itself.
Imran Khan cabinet minister Fawad Chaudhry told ARY News that he does not expect the voting to be held on Saturday and said that the contents of the cable will be released and the speaker will be urged to hold a debate on the issue.
Meanwhile, people familiar with the developments told CNN-News18 that the Pakistan foreign service officials have expressed their displeasure towards the Imran Khan government and even conveyed to him personally that the politicisation of the diplomatic cable could have unintended consequences.
A report by Dawn said that Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan held a parliamentary meeting with PTI lawmakers but only 98 of those members attended the meeting.
The opposition plans to surprise the Imran Khan government during the voting by not revealing the PTI dissidents who have sided with the opposition umbrella group Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
People familiar with the developments told news agency Dawn that opposition plans to not to bring into play the 22 PTI dissidents who they claim have sided with them.
“We will not ask the PTI members (dissidents) to vote as we have the sufficient numbers required to oust the government. These PTI members will be in reserve,” a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) told news agency Dawn. They cited that revealing their identity could make them liable to possible disqualification under Article 63-A of the Pakistan constitution.
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