Islamabad (Web Desk): The opposition on Wednesday decided to move a no-confidence motion against National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaiser.
According to sources, the development came during a meeting of the leaders of opposition parties held Islamabad.
During the meeting, it was decided that a committee would be formed to draft a plan of action to table the no-confidence motion.
“Yesterday was the darkest day in the history of democracy, ”, the opposition leaders said, adding that the speaker has completely failed in his constitutional, legal, democratic and parliamentary responsibilities.
The opposition leaders said that the Speaker is the guardian of every member of the House but Asad Qaiser is not qualified to perform this duty.
On Tuesday, the National Assembly turned into a battleground as the opposition and treasury members scuffled with each other and threw budget documents and books when the latter continued their noisy protest to disrupt Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif's budget speech for a second consecutive day.
The Speaker suspended the proceedings of the House three times when the treasury members, led by some of the senior ministers who had come directly to the House after attending the weekly cabinet meeting, refused to pay heed to his directives to stay calm and kept on sloganeering, whistling and desk-thumping.
Shehbaz, who was surrounded by his party members to avoid any physical contact with the treasury MNAs, also continued his speech.
Meanwhile, PTI MNA Maleeka Bokhari, who serves as Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Justice, and a member of the security staff were injured as the two sides were tossing budget books at each other.
Earlier on Wednesday, Speaker National Assembly (NA) Asad Qaiser on Wednesday barred entry of seven lawmakers into the Parliament House over ‘grossly disorderly’ conduct.
According to the notification issued by the NA speaker, the seven members banned from entering the House include Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Ali Nawaz Awan, Abdul Majeed Khan, and Fahim Khan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Sheikh Rohail Asghar, Ali Gohar Khan and Chaudhry Hamid Hameed and Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Agha Rafiullah.
The action from NA Speaker came after his meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan during which they discussed the recent rumpus.
A separate statement issued by the NA Secretariat said that the ban on the MNAs would last until further orders. "The NA Secretariat has issued instructions to the concerned MNAs and to the assembly security," it said.
