ISLAMABAD: The opposition alliance of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is all set to discuss the proposal of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to bring in an in-house change in the National Assembly (NA) and remove Prime Minister Imran Khan and Speaker Asad Qaisar through a no-confidence motion.
Earlier in Larkana, Bilawal had announced on behalf of the opposition that the PDM would bring a no-confidence motion against PM Imran and the NA speaker, as well as Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.
However, Ahsan Iqbal had rejected the proposal, asking Bilawal to discuss the matter with the opposition parties. He had also said that the PDM would rather work on planning the long march next month to help topple the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
Reliable sources in the PDM have informed Pakistan Today that in wake of the proposal floated by Bilawal, the opposition parties have joined hands and would be discussing the proposal to table a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran.
In this regard, sources said, an important meeting of the parliamentary leaders of the opposition has been convened on Monday, in which consultations will be held on the no-confidence motion against the premier and the other leaders.
While there had been rumours of dissent amid the ranks after Iqbal’s comments, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has insisted that there is no division within the ranks of the 11-party anti-government coalition.
Speaking to the secretary-general of the PPP’s Punjab chapter, Chaudhry Manzoor, during a phone call, Zardari said that the opposition parties’ coalition under the PDM banner “is united and will strike the government from all directions”.
“The PDM will use all options, in turn, to get rid of the PTI government,” he said.
“The country is in grave danger and the [incumbent] rulers are likely to make a huge blunder,” the former president said, adding that it is “crucial to send the government packing”.
“The incompetence of these inept rulers may lead to a major accident in the country [and therefore] the next few months are crucial for the future of national politics.”
Speaking of the ongoing pandemic, the PPP leader — whose son and party chairman Bilawal contracted Covid-19 in November 2020 and recovered a month later — stressed that the Imran administration would “no longer be allowed to hide behind coronavirus”.
“They [government] could neither purchase the coronavirus vaccine nor could they help people during the coronavirus pandemic,” he stated.
Comparing the PTI regime to his own government, Zardari cited the Great Recession and said: “We increased exports from $19 billion to $26 billion despite the 2008 global financial crisis.”
“We doubled the country’s revenue, increased the salaries of employees by 125 per cent. We bumped up government employees’ pensions by 100 per cent,” he added.
Slamming the “incompetent” PTI government, he said that the rulers had “turned all indicators negative”.
“I said in the past that these elected rulers will fall under their own weight. Now that they have crashed, only one last shove is needed.
“Together with the PDM, the PPP will send this failed and incompetent lot home,” he vowed.
Moreover, the opposition leadership has purportedly devised a strategy to deal with the no-confidence motion and the same would be discussed in the meeting.
Sources said that the federal government has also contacted the PDM leadership at the parliamentary level to hold the ongoing NA session in a truly democratic manner.
In this regard, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak has contacted the opposition leaders, however, differences remain between the government and the opposition over the proceedings of both the houses of the parliament.
The sources said that the opposition would also meet Khattak and seek ‘written guarantees’ for smooth parliamentary proceedings.
These written guarantees would relate on their demands, such as equal time in the National Assembly.
Sources said that the opposition parties are no longer seeking fulfilment of their previous demand of releasing production orders for its imprisoned top leaders, including the opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif, Khursheed Shah and Khawaja Asif.
They said that the opposition has taken a stand that if the written guarantees are not implemented, they will boycott the next NA session and would also raise lack of quorum.
