ISLAMABAD - Opposition parties on Thursday submitted a privilege motion to the National Assembly secretariat against the prime minister over his alleged “untruthful” speech he made earlier on the floor of the lower house.

The privilege motion was submitted by Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah with the support of opposition lawmakers including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Sherin Mazari, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Sahibzada Tariqullah, Awami National Party’s Ghulam Ahmed Balour and Pakistan Muslim League-Q’s Tariq Basheer Cheema.

The main opposition parties especially the PTI had made a failed attempt to move a motion against the prime minister in the last session but the speaker rejected the motion. Both the PTI and the PPP wanted to debate the issue of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s alleged lying to the parliament over London flats and the money trail.

The opposition parties except for the MQM have referred to the plea taken by the PM’s counsel in the apex court in the Panama papers case.

The motion says, “the plea taken by the PM’s defence counsel in the court on January 16, to do away with PM’s speech delivered on the National Assembly floor explaining the trail of funds used to purchase properties in London and elsewhere as mentioned in Panama leaks, using Article-66 as a shield, are an admission that the PM did not tell the truth to the assembly”.

The privilege motion also stated that a debate should be held on the topic in the house regarding the subject.

During his speech in NA on May 16, 2016, the prime minister had shared the money trail which was used to purchase London flats.

Under Article 91(6) of the constitution, “prime minister and cabinet are collectively responsible to Parliament and have to state the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”.

During the last session, the National Assembly saw a rumpus after the speaker refused to allow the PTI to move a privilege motion against the prime minister. Speaker Ayaz Sadiq rejected the privilege motion terming it a ‘subjudice matter’. The speaker was criticized by the PPP for rejecting the motion without listening to the opposition parties.

The upcoming national assembly session has been summoned for 26th January.