ISLAMABAD: An hour before the voting on no-confidence motion against Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri was to be held in National Assembly Saturday, he tendered his resignation.
Following the footsteps of former speaker Asad Qaiser, Deputy Speaker Suri, too, resigned from his post ahead of voting on no-trust motion in Saturday’s sitting of the assembly.
Earlier, the session of National Assembly was convened at 12 noon to hold voting on the no-confidence motion against Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri. However, after Suri’s resignation, there was no need to conduct voting on the motion.
The deputy speaker submitted his resignation to the speaker of the National Assembly’s office stating that the DG ISPR’s press briefing on April 14 had proved to him that there has been “a blatant foreign interference/involvement in the internal affairs of Pakistan.”
Suri furthered that his actions symbolise his party’s vision and “commitment to democracy, never to compromise on the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan…and safeguarding the interest and independence of our country.”
As the acting speaker, Suri claimed that he had been privy to the classified letter and its contents were indicative of foreign intervention. However, the response of state institutions to the letter was “shocking and completely unacceptable for any sovereign nation with self-respect, dignity, and pride.”
The former deputy speaker, said that Imran Khan had been targeted due to his stance on Islamophobia and independent foreign policy due to which he “blatantly refused to provide military bases” for action against Afghanistan.
Suri regretted that there had been a “failure to stand up to the foreign intervention and aggression” and he found it “unconscionable to continue” in his duties.
“Our great country and its people deserve better,” he wrote, adding that no “reasonable” government, institution or patriot should knowingly and deliberately inflict the dire consequences of such a destructive move”, thereby risking the prospect of damaging the country’s independence, interests, and sovereignty.
The deputy speaker urged the Supreme Court to take notice of the matter and form a judicial commission to unearth the conspiracy, saying he believed it to be a great failure of politics in leaving millions of people destitute.
“Our politics need urgent and radical reform,” he wrote, “local Mir Jafars have sold their souls and conscience for monetary gains and worldly benefits.”
Qasim Suri’s resignation stated, “against this backdrop, I am constrained to, hereby, tender my resignation with the sanguine hope that it may be accepted. And that the Honourable Supreme Court will unearth this conspiracy as it is now a fight for Pakistan’s sovereignty and real democracy against the US instigated regime change.”
