ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) announced on Wednesday that the no trust move against Prime Minister Imran Khan would proceed with or without the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q).
at least two senior PML-N leaders told media separately that no one can blackmail PML-N in exchange for rendering support for a no-trust move.
“We have huge support inside of PTI and would successfully sail a no-confidence motion even without the support of PTI allies,” said Ahsan Iqbal, while talking to the media.
He stated that PML-N has a firm stance and in the last three years has paid a price for party ideology and principles. Therefore, we don’t want to be engaged in political logrolling.
“If someone thinks of blackmailing PML-N in exchange for offering support for the vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan, it will not work as we have strong contacts with many PTI members of parliament as well as government allies,” he added.
Responding to a question regarding Nawaz Sharif’s disagreement on Pervaiz Elahi’s name for the CM Punjab slot, Ahsan Iqbal stated that the opposition was getting huge support to oust the incumbent government and it would surely succeed in sailing no trust move from the national assembly without the support of government allies.
Ahsan Iqbal said that PTI allies would have to decide their political fate by themselves, either to quit or plunge with the incumbent government.
“We are getting massive support inside of PTI for the no-trust move. A number of PTI members of the national assembly (MNA) want to dissociate themselves from the incumbent government due to mass pressure,” he said.
The former interior minister claimed that “around 20 MNAs of PTI are in contact with us and want to get rid of the party.”
The PML-N leader went on to say that the government was panicked and trembling. The recent prime minister relief package announcement proves the regime was shaken by opposition strategy to oust the government. Nevertheless, the government’s fall was imminent if no one interfered.
Meanwhile, former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the no-confidence motion proposed against the prime minister by opposition parties will proceed further “with or without” the backing of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), a member of the ruling coalition.
His comment came a day after the Chaudhry brothers, the leaders of the party, assured the prime minister of their full support as the opposition teamed up to topple the government through the motion.
The party — which is considered pro-establishment, and has five seats in the National Assembly and 10 in the Punjab Assembly — is a member of the coalition, led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in power in Punjab and at the centre.
It has assumed great importance since the multi-party Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance of opposition parties ramped up efforts to dislodge the government through a no-trust vote in the National Assembly.
But in order for such a move to succeed, the opposition would require the support of Q-League MPs in the House.
During Tuesday’s meeting with the prime minister, PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain assured Imran Khan his party does not trust deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif whose PML-N has reportedly offered the office of Punjab chief minister to Pervaiz Elahi in return for his backing of the motion.
“Sharifs […] ditched us in the past. We know them all, and do not trust them,” a report in Dawn quoted Hussain, also a former prime minister, as saying.
Commenting on the meeting, Abbasi, who was talking to media outside an accountability court in Islamabad where he came to attend the hearing in a case filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), said it was up to Q-League if it wanted to stick to power or side with the people of Pakistan.
He was of the view the purpose of politics should be to serve the nation. “Countries do not run on amnesty schemes,” he remarked.
On the proceedings in the reference, he said Pakistan has been witnessing the “NAB shows” for the last 22 years. The dirty money watchdog had made baseless cases against the opposition MPs, he claimed, adding it will be held accountable for its actions.
Abbasi said the NAB had damaged the national institutions. It is playing with the lives of [innocent] people, he said, stressing the institution needed to be abolished altogether.
