Qasim Suri Resigns as Pakistan National Assembly Deputy Speaker Ahead of No-Confidence Vote

The political drama that began last month in Pakistan continued during the weekend with another high profile figure from ex-PM Imran Khan's party resigning from his post in the National Assembly. Like the cricketer-turned-politician, Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri was also facing a no-confidence vote in the lower house of the country's parliament.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI) Qasim Suri stepped down from his position as deputy speaker of the National Assembly ahead of a no-confidence motion against him on Saturday.

Sharing the news of his resignation on Twitter, Suri declared that his decision to quit was in line with his party's vision, which was to protect Pakistan from "vested interests" who were working to destroy the country.

"We will never compromise on Pakistan's sovereignty and integrity. We will fight for the country's interests and independence. We will go to any length to protect Pakistan", he said on the micro-blogging site.

Suri was under tremendous pressure from members of the Treasury benches over his role in the disputed 3 April ruling which dismissed the no-confidence motion against outgoing PM Imran Khan.

Even after Pakistan's Supreme Court declared his decision unconstitutional, paving the way for the vote in the National Assembly, leading to the ouster of Khan from the nation's top post, Suri continued to cling on power.

While several PTI leaders, including Khan, resigned from the membership of the National Assembly, Suri didn't join them in the act and instead employed delaying tactics to prolong the process of electing a new speaker.

Earlier this week, Suri was slammed for his handling of the PTI MNAs, who decided to resign en masse from the National Assembly even before Shehbaz Sharif was chosen as the new prime minister of the country.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) accused Suri of putting pressure on the National Assembly secretariat to accept the resignations of PTI MNAs.

Meanwhile, senior PPP lawmaker Raja Pervez Ashraf was appointed the new speaker of the National Assembly on Friday, winning the election unopposed as no candidate from the PTI had filed nomination for the post.

The election of a new speaker was called after the previous one, Asad Qaiser, quit his post on 9 April.