Imran Khan once again skipped the proceedings of the Pakistan National Assembly on Saturday as his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) continued its efforts to stave off a no-confidence motion. Slogans were raised in Parliament on behalf of PTI – Who will save Pakistan… Imran Khan, Imran Khan. Earlier on April 3, Imran did not attend the proceedings of the Parliament and supervised the proceedings from his chamber. Imran Khan addressed the nation as soon as the deputy speaker rejected the opposition’s no-confidence motion, in which he announced his advice to dissolve Parliament.
After a week and a decision of the Supreme Court, Imran Khan again disappeared from Parliament on Saturday. On behalf of the opposition, Bilawal Bhutto alleged that the ‘captain’ himself ran away with the wicket, if he had shown sportsmanship, the public would have respected him. At least the constitution will be protected. Opposition parties accused Imran Khan of violating the Constitution. However, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that he would present the position of Imran Khan and the PTI government.
How brave is Imran! Questions raised on missing from Parliament
Commenting on Imran Khan’s absence track record, Pakistani columnist Nadeem Farooq Paracha tweeted: “Batsman has decided to play the last ball from the dressing room. How brave.” This is in the context of Imran Khan’s statement that he will not resign under pressure from the opposition and will play till the last ball.
Imran Khan will not accept his ‘defeat’ in the no-confidence vote, this has become very clear from his earlier move to push for the dissolution of the assembly which is ultimately overruled by the Supreme Court.
As per the order of the Supreme Court, Parliament proceedings cannot be stopped till voting is held today, while Qureshi raised many issues including Kashmir, accidental missile firing, CPEC, BRI etc. in his speech. During this Qureshi asked ‘Who will save Pakistan?’ On which the party members raised slogans of ‘Imran Khan’, ‘Imran Khan’.