Punjab assembly dissolution put off just as Imran planned
Speaker says House will deal with no-trust motion first
The Punjab Assembly’s dissolution as planned and announced by former prime minister and chairman of the Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has been delayed.
The Speaker of the provincial assembly Sibtain Khan yesterday attributed the delay to the no-trust motion submitted by the opposition’s alliance of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) parties against Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi.
Imran Khan had on December 17 announced in a TV address that Punjab and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assemblies would be dissolved on December 23 to force the federal government to give a date for general elections.
However, soon after his announcement, the two major parties in the Punjab Assembly, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) moved a no-trust move in and according to the constitution an assembly cannot be dissolved when a no-confidence motion is pending against the chief minister.
“We have to first deal with the No-Confidence Motion, said the provincial speaker adding it might take a few days, maybe the first week of January 2023. The assembly will be dissolved once the opposition’s move is foiled,” the Assembly speaker said.
Governor’s order ‘set aside’ by Speaker
A day earlier, Sibtain Khan ‘disposed’ of an order by Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman that had directed Pervaiz Elahi to seek a fresh vote of confidence from the assembly and call a special session in that regard.
In a ruling during the ongoing Punjab Assembly session, Sibtain Khan held that the assembly was “already in session” and “until and unless the current session is prorogued, the governor cannot summon any fresh session.”
He also referred to a Lahore High Court verdict according to which the matter of confidence in the chief minister could only be determined in a session that was “especially summoned for this purpose.”
The governor cannot, therefore, summon this special session while the current session was ongoing, it sai.
KP assembly dissolution also delayed
After delay in Punjab Assembly’s dissolution, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has also postponed the dissolution of the provincial assembly until “the fate of the Punjab Assembly is decided.”
In a media talk outside the Hayatabad Sports Complex in Peshawar, Mahmood Khan said, “Imran Khan will first decide the future of the Punjab Assembly. At the moment, consultation on the matter of the Punjab Assembly is underway. The decision regarding the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly will be taken after these discussions.”