Pakistan: Speaker Asad Qaisar says won't conduct voting against Imran Khan

Amid the ongoing session of the Pakistan National Assembly discussing the no-confidence motion against the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, Speaker Asad Qaisar has reportedly said that he will not conduct voting against Imran Khan under any circumstances.

The National Assembly speaker reportedly made the comments while talking to the Opposition representatives while the session was in adjournment according to Geo News.

Saying that he will not conduct a vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan, Qaisar reportedly said that he had a relationship of 30 years with Imran Khan and he can't end that, even if it means facing contempt of court.

This comes amid reports that Prime Minister Imran Khan has called in a Federal Cabinet meeting at 9 pm tonight, leading to speculations over whether the vote on the no-confidence motion will be held by today, as per the directions of the Pakistan Supreme Court.

The voting on the no-confidence motion was expected to be held after 8 pm tonight.

Earlier today, the session of the National Assembly was adjourned after convening in the morning amid ruckus in the House. The House reconvened at around 2:30 pm (local time) and was further adjourned after speeches were made by the Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and Opposition leaders including Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

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 )