As the National Assembly session on the no-confidence motion against the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) resumed around 3:00 pm, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the former National Security Advisor (NSA) of the country Moeed Yusuf was categorically told by the US that Prime Minister Imran Khan should not go on his Russia visit.
Qureshi was speaking on the no-confidence motion against the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). He conceded that today is probably his last day as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan.
"The National Security Advisor of the United States of America calls the National Security Advisor of Pakistan and says, do not go... categorically... where does this happen that a sovereign state is stopped from a bilateral visit and which self-respecting society accepts this?" Qureshi said.
Imran Khan had made an ill-timed bilateral visit to Moscow on the eve of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Qureshi also talked about the accidental fire of a missile from India last month that landed in Pakistan, saying that the accidental firing could have led to an "accidental war".
Earlier today, the session of the National Assembly was adjourned as the Opposition continued to chant slogans, pressing for the taking up of the no-confidence motion, while Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was speaking in the National Assembly, local media reported.
In an apparent move seen as part of the strategy of the ruling Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) to delay the proceedings, Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, while chairing the Saturday session to take up the no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government, said that the House should also hold a discussion on the issue of "international conspiracy."
The Speaker's suggestion was met with strong protest by the Opposition members who asked the Chair to stick to the mandate of the session spelt out by the Supreme Court.
Pakistan's Supreme Court in a historic judgement on Thursday had called for the convening of the session of the National Assembly "not later than 10:30 am on Saturday" after setting aside the April 3 ruling of the Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri against the no-confidence motion on "Constitutional grounds".
Declaring the ruling of the Deputy Speaker "to be contrary to the Constitution and the law and of no legal effect", the Court set aside all the subsequent steps taken, including the dissolution of the National Assembly, while also restoring Prime Minister Imran Khan and all the Federal Ministers to their respective positions as of April 3.
The court also fixed the Saturday session with the conditions that the session cannot be prorogued unless the motion is voted upon, and in case Imran Khan loses the no-trust vote, the next PM has to be elected in the same session.
( With inputs from ANI )
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