Pak National Assembly adjourned, to meet again on Monday to elect new PM
Islamabad, Apr 10 (PTI) National Assembly proceedings were adjourned in the early hours of Sunday and the House will meet again on April 11 at 2 pm to elect the new premier after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed from office through a no-confidence vote.
Ayaz Sadiq of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, who was chairing the crucial session, said the nomination papers for the new prime minister may be submitted by 2 pm on Sunday and the scrutiny would be done by 3 pm.
He summoned the session on Monday at 11 am and said the new premier would be elected then. However, the National Assembly of Pakistan later informed on its official Twitter account that the House will meet at 2 pm.
"The Sitting of the National Assembly will meet again on Monday, the 11th April, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. instead of 11:00 a.m," it tweeted.
Earlier, Sadiq was nominated by Speaker Asad Qaiser to chair the session after the leader of Imran Khan's party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), announced to step down as it was not possible for him to continue.
Sadiq immediately started the voting process.
The joint Opposition - a rainbow of socialist, liberal and radically religious parties - secured the support of 174 members in the 342-member National Assembly, more than the needed strength of 172 to oust the prime minister on a day full of drama and multiple adjournments of the Lower House.
No prime minister in Pakistan's history was ever ousted through a no-confidence motion. Khan is the first premier whose fate was decided through a trust vote.
Also, no Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term in office.
Khan, 69, was not present in the lower house at the time of voting. His party lawmakers staged a walkout during the voting. However, PTI's dissident members were present in the house and sat on the government benches.
The removal of Khan has set in motion the process to elect the new leader of the house.
The combined opposition has already named PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif as joint candidate.
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IAF personnel acquitted in POCSO case after minor says 'assault' was in a dream
Kanpur (UP), Mar 11 (PTI): A special court here has acquitted an Indian Air Force personnel accused of molesting his minor sister-in-law after the complainant revealed that the alleged incident was only a dream and her raising an alarm was a misunderstanding, officials said.
The case was registered at the Naubasta Police Station on August 3, 2019, based on a complaint by a 15-year-old girl who alleged that her brother-in-law, Anurag Shukla, had molested her earlier that year while she was asleep.
According to the FIR, the alleged incident took place on the night of March 8, 2019, when the girl was staying at her sister-in-law's house in Khadepur under Naubasta police station limits.
During the trial, however, the girl told the court that she had been on antibiotics and was in a semi-conscious state that night and had "felt in a dream" that Shukla had grabbed and molested her, following which she woke up frightened and raised an alarm, defence counsel Karim Ahmad Siddiqui told PTI on Tuesday.
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Her father, Vijay Tiwari, and elder sister, Shivani Tiwari, who is married to Shukla, also told the court that the complaint had been filed under a misunderstanding.
Shukla had married Shivani Tiwari on February 10, 2019. At the time of the alleged incident, he was living in Khadepur and has since shifted to Bithoor.
Speaking to PTI, Shukla said he was arrested on September 29, 2019, and spent 19 days in jail before being granted bail on October 17 that year.
A chargesheet was subsequently filed, and the special court framed charges in November 2019 under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, including molestation and sexual assault of a minor.
During the trial, the complainant retracted her earlier allegations.
Taking note of her testimony and statements of family members acknowledging the misunderstanding, the special court presided over by Judge Rashmi Singh acquitted Shukla of all charges on March 7, holding that the prosecution had failed to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Shukla told PTI that the case caused him severe mental stress and harmed his social reputation and career prospects. He claimed he could not secure a promotion to the rank of corporal in the IAF in 2020 and continues to serve as a leading aircraftman.
