ISLAMABAD: The critical National Assembly session to elect Pakistan’s 23rd prime minister is underway, two days after the lower house of parliament voted in favour of removing Imran Khan from office, following a nearly 14-hour standoff between the opposition and Khan’s ruling party that started on Saturday morning.
The session formally started after a brief delay with a recitation of the Holy Quran and naat, with NA Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri in the chair.
The Opposition’s joint candidate and PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif is likely to be elected unopposed as PTI decided to boycott the session shortly before it started, with resignations of PTI lawmakers continuing to pour in on social media. The PTI had nominated former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi as its candidate.
Taking the floor, former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that today’s constitutional process has to end today as some will be declared a winner today, while the other one will be declared “free”.
“The nation has two paths; one path is of self-respect while the other one is of slavery,” he said, appreciating Imran Khan for trusting him [Qureshi] by nominating him.
Calling PTI a “relatively” new party compared to other parties, he said it has managed to leave a strong impression on the minds of the public.
Qureshi pointed towards the treasury benches, saying that today, the nation can see that on one side are people who share the same pro-country ideology and on the other side, people are only united and are sitting with several ideologies.
The PTI vice-chairman said: “In view of PTI members, the unity among the Opposition benches is unnatural because history knows that there is no ideological unity. among them”.
