Pakistan: National Assembly dismisses no-confidence session, calling it 'unconstitutional'

Prime Minister Imran Khan, in an address to the nation on Sunday, said he had advised President Arif Alvi to dissolve assemblies.

His announcement came moments after National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, who was chairing today's session, dismissed the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, terming it a contradiction of Article 5 of the Constitution.

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

Suri chaired today's session after opposition parties, in a surprise move, filed a no-confidence motion against Speaker Asad Qaiser.

Taking the floor shortly after the session began, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that loyalty to the state was the basic duty of every citizen under Article 5. He reiterated the premier's earlier claims that a foreign conspiracy was behind the move to oust the government.

"On March 7, our official ambassador was invited to a meeting attended by the representatives of other countries. The meeting was informed that a motion against PM Imran was being presented," he said, noting that this occurred a day before the opposition formally filed the no-trust move.

"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 the upcoming path for Pakistan 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 to decide the constitutionality of the no-trust move.

Opposition lawmakers earlier appeared confident of the success of the no-trust move as they made their way to Parliament House.

The opposition needs the support of at least 172 lawmakers from a total of 342 to oust the premier through the no-trust move.