Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf stated on Wednesday that the party wishes to “use all constitutional options against the government”, and that it would try to convince the other member parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to come on board with the idea of the no-confidence motion.
“Some parties are on board [with] a no-confidence motion but some have reservations which will be resolved by sitting together. We have the PDM forum where we will present our [suggestion] and will listen to them (the opposing parties),” he said while talking to a local news outlet.
The PPP leader added that using this motion against the incumbent premier is the “democratic option”, adding that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had a small majority in Punjab and the Centre.
Ashraf further claimed that democracy had been endangered due to the actions of the ruling party.
Last week, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had called for bringing a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony of Larkana Industrial Estate on Friday, Bilawal had said that the no-confidence motion will be much more effective than the ongoing Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) rallies.
“Even 10 rallies will not yield the kind of results as a strategy meeting over a cup of tea which is sure to cause the government to break a sweat,” he had said. He had further added that he will speak to the opposition parties to “strike” in the assembly.
“The democratic way to send this incompetent, illegal, unqualified prime minister is through a no-confidence motion,” the PPP chairman had said on the occasion.
After the announcement, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader 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 PTI government.
The opposition alliance of PDM will likely discuss the proposal of the PPP chairman 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 during their meeting on February 4.
Earlier this week, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had insisted that there was 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 had 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 had said.
“The country is in grave danger and the [incumbent] rulers are likely to make a huge blunder,” the former president had maintained, 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.”
Meanwhile, PDM President Fazlur Rehman told the media a day earlier: “If anyone wants to talk to us, they should come forth and meet our demands. There is an option of tabling no-confidence motion against the prime minister but it does not seem to be practical. We have asked the PPP to convince the PDM allies on this proposal”.
He had maintained that while the PDM allies may come up with their own proposals, the decisions are taken unanimously. He added that both Nawaz and Zardari fully agree on the need to oust the incumbent government.
