ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Secretariat has strongly refuted news item that Speaker Asad Qaiser did not chair the session as he opposed the PTI’s decision to reject voting on the no-confidence motion under Article 5 of the Constitution.
In a statement, National Assembly Secretariat spokesman has termed all such news as “fabricated and baseless”. He informed that the Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser had decided not to preside over the session on 3rd April since a no-confidence motion had been submitted against him.
He further informed that the Speaker National Assembly concurred with the ruling given by the Deputy Speaker on the no-confidence motion and had signed it. The spokesman further said that matter was pending before the Supreme Court and the Speaker will present his point of view before the court through his Counsel. He said that attributing such news with Speaker be avoided.
On Sunday, the National Assembly had to vote on the no-trust motion against the the prime minister but NA Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri ruled out the no-trust motion under Article 5. On the day of voting, NA Speaker Asad Qaiser did not preside over the lower house session. Instead, Deputy Speaker Qasim Soori conducted the session.
A media publication citing sources close to Asad Qaiser said that he was not ready to give a ruling under Article 5 of the Constitution to reject the no-trust motion against the prime minister. It added Qaiser has expressed concern with the PTI leadership over ruling under Article 5.
The reports said the PM’s legal team endeavoured to convince Qaiser to foil the trust motion; however, he disagreed with the legal team’s point of view and refrained from attending the lower house session.
According to the publication, NA Speaker Asad Qaiser responded with “no comments” when they attempted to get his point of view. “The matter is in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, therefore I cannot talk on this,” he said.
