ISLAMABAD:
The three major opposition parties — PML-N, PPP and JUI-F — have sorted out their differences and decided ‘in principle’ to table a no-confidence motion in National Assembly against Prime Minister Imran Khan, The Express Tribune learnt on Monday.
The decision was taken after PDM leaders – Shehbaz Sharif and Maulana Fazlur Rehman – met with former president Asif Ali Zardari at his residence in Islamabad today.
صدر پاکستان مسلم لیگ (ن) و قائد حزب اختلاف شہبازشریف کی مولانا فضل الرحمان کے ہمراہ سابق صدر آصف زرداری سے وفد کی سطح پر اہم ملاقات۔
ملاقات میں موجودہ ملکی سیاسی صورتحال اور عدم اعتماد کی تحریک کے حوالے سے اہم امور پر گفتگو pic.twitter.com/qwOjE4UK6r
— PML(N) (@pmln_org) March 7, 2022
Insiders said the country’s overall political situation and the matter of no-confidence vote were discussed in the huddle attended by major political leaders of the country.
The opposition parties have decided that the motion will be moved “soon” in the lower house of the parliament but no deadline was given.
The opposition members including Yousuf Raza Gilani, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Syed Khursheed Shah, Syed Naveed Qamar, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah Khan, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Murtaza Wahab and Marriyum Aurangzeb were present in the meeting.
Also read: No-confidence motion to be tabled after long march: Shah
The legal experts were given the task of formulating a strategy regarding the no-confidence motion.
A day earlier, PPP leader Syed Khursheed Shah had said that the opposition will move the motion of no-confidence after the party’s long march.
He added that the opposition will submit requisition for the National Assembly session to table the no-confidence move.
Earlier today, PM Imran while reiterating that opposition parties were more than welcome to test the water with their no-confidence motion against his government, directed Sindh Governor Imran Ismail and Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak to bring disgruntled members back into the party’s fold.
Sources said that the prime minister, who chaired the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) core committee meeting, assured the party that there was nothing to be worried about as “there is no threat to the democratic government”.
Surprisingly, the no-confidence motion has put everything on the back burner, including the weekly federal cabinet meeting.
Noticeably, the premier has lately been so busy in turning the tables on the opposition that he has once again postponed the federal cabinet’s meeting – making it the third consecutive Tuesday without having to hear what the cabinet has to collectively say in these testing times.
While dispelling the impression that the opposition parties were on the verge of making their no-trust move successful, the premier repeated in the core committee meeting that he has confidence in the party’s lawmakers. The ‘homework’ was complete to defeat the opposition parties’ move and the “agenda of thieves [opposition parties] would be made unsuccessful”.