Removal of Pakistan Prez & return of Nawaz Sharif high on agenda

Islamabad: Pakistan's Opposition has completed its initial talks for the formation of a new government once Prime Minister Imran Khan is ousted on Saturday after the no-confidence motion and plans are afoot for the removal of President Arif Alvi and the return of deposed premier Nawaz Sharif from the UK, a media report said on Friday.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, 70, who is the Opposition's candidate for the new prime minister, will announce his possible government priorities after taking the oath, The Express Tribune newspaper reported. In a landmark 5-0 verdict on Thursday, a five-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial ruled that National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri's ruling rejecting a no-confidence motion against Khan was "contrary to the Constitution and the law, and of no legal effect. The apex court also declared the advice by the Prime Minister to President Alvi to dissolve the national assembly as unconstitutional."

The court ordered the speaker of the lower house to call the session of the national assembly on April 9 at 10 am (local time) to organise a no-confidence vote. According to the Orders of the Day' issued by the National Assembly Secretariat on Friday, the National Assembly's session for voting on the no-confidence motion against PM Khan will take place at on Saturday in line with the Supreme Court's order.