ISLAMABAD: Striking a conciliatory tone, Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry Monday said if the opposition alliance withdrew its no-confidence motion against the prime minister in view of the international economic situation, the government “will see what it can offer to them in return”.
The motion seeking the ouster of Imran Khan was submitted to the office of National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Tuesday. It accused him of mismanaging the economy and poor governance in the toughest challenge he has faced since taking power in 2018.
Should Khan fail to win the approval of the legislature, the parliament will have to choose a new prime minister.
The prime minister has vowed to fight any move to unseat him. “Whatever they do, I’m ready for that,” he told a gathering in Islamabad last week.
Today, Chaudhry, speaking on a political chatshow, said the government was ready to sit with the opposition on matters including electoral reforms, changes to laws governing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and dates and processes of the 2023 general elections.
“Whatever their [opposition’s] concerns are, discussions can be held with open hearts,” he said while cautioning “serious people” in the opposition that amid the vote on the motion, “we will keep doing politics for 2-3 weeks and when we look back, we will see that our economy has been damaged so much that it will be a problem to make it recover.”
He said the upcoming power show of the ruling party at the D-Chowk in Islamabad was a “mini referendum” ahead of, and over, the no-trust vote, adding the MPs will cast their votes in the National Assembly after passing through the “sea of people”.
He expressed hope that over one million people will attend the public meeting on the call of the prime minister.
“The opposition will see for itself if the people are with us or not,” he asserted.
PML-Q PARTY OF FEW DISTS
Meanwhile, Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar said the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) was a party of a few districts.
Addressing a convention for Pakistan nationals living abroad, the minister said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was a party of interior Sindh and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of G.T. Road.
“The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), on the other hand, is the party of all Pakistanis from Khyber to Karachi,” he declared, and added that Pakistan was faced with internal challenges.
“Allah’s help is with Imran Khan. The people of Pakistan love him. The country came into being after sacrifices. We are ready to give more sacrifices,” he vowed.
“The opposition’s no-confidence motion will meet failure,” he stated.
