Bilawal calls for parliamentary commission to probe April's 'unconstitutional' incidents

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called on Thursday for the formation of a parliamentary commission to investigate the "unconstitutional incidents" that took place in the lead-up to the ouster of former PM Imran Khan via a no-confidence motion.

Addressing the floor of the National Assembly, Bilawal said that Khan and former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly (NA) Qasim Suri had "broken the constitution and attacked democracy." He said the committee should investigate who was involved in these "undemocratic steps".

"People of Pakistan expect accountability. We have to investigate and get to the bottom of these events and hold the people responsible and take action," the FM said.

Innings over: Imran Khan loses no-trust vote

On April 3, Suri dismissed a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan, terming it a contradiction of Article 5 of the Constitution. This was an anti-climactic development to weeks of planning and intense lobbying by the then opposition.

However a few days later, voting was finally held, with 174 members being in favour of ousting Imran.

Bilawal caimed that before the voting on the no-trust motion, a minister of the ousted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government had threatened him to agree to hold general elections, otherwise martial would be imposed.

'Elections to be held after reforms'

The FM said his party believes electoral reforms are much-needed before elections take place. He said there is a need for the government to sit together with all stakeholders, including civil society and political parties to ensure free, fair and transparent elections.

Earlier, PPP co-chair Asif Ali Zardari said elections will be held after the incumbent coalition government implements electoral reforms and amends the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws.

"We have to change laws and improve them and then go to elections. Whether it takes 3 or 4 months, we have to work on implementation of policies and improving the electoral process," Zardari said.

The former president said that the coalition government was not against representation of overseas Pakistanis in the voting process.

Separately, Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif said it is possible general elections will be held before the appointment of the new army chief in November.