Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari claimed on Sunday that the president has accepted the opposition’s stance, referring to the presidential order wherein Prime Minister Imran Khan had to take a vote of confidence in the National Assembly (NA).
The above was said by the PPP chairman while talking to media persons outside the residence of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hamza Shehbaz where the two had had a meeting earlier today.
Bilawal said: “We just contested a senate election [but] the president of Pakistan has accepted that Khan Sahib has lost his majority and he asked him to prove his majority in the national assembly.”
A day earlier, the prime minister had secured 178 votes. His party has 157 members in the House. The breakdown suggested some 155 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members of parliament (MPs) voted in favour of the prime minister.
In a charged speech following the trust motion, Imran had said his government was “doing things” to bring about substantial improvements in the country’s electoral system.
The government, he had said, was engaged with Pakistan nationals abroad to let them vote electronically in elections. He had also announced to introduce “electronic machines […] so that the contestant who loses, accepts defeat gracefully.”
However, Bilawal maintained on Sunday that the victories of the parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in the by-elections “means that the people are with the opposition parties”.
The opposition parties have now started their campaign for Senate chairmanship. They have not formally announced the name of their candidate but it is believed that Gillani will contest the election as the PDM candidate.
“We have learned a lot from the past senate chairman election,” said Bilawal. “Had we not learned anything, we would have lost the secret ballot election in the National Assembly.”
Hamza Shehbaz, who was released from jail on bail last month, said that the objectives of the PDM weren’t limited to a long march or a no-confidence motion in the short term.
He said, it aimed to correct “the destruction caused in this country in these [past] three years”.
The leader of the opposition in the provincial assembly pointed out the state of the economy, crop production of cotton, wheat and sugarcane was at its lowest point, there was a shortage of medicine, and there were mounds of trash all over the roads.
He lamented, however, that in the last three years a culture of “rowdiness, cursing and misbehaviour” had become prevalent, citing noisy parliament sessions and yesterday’s incident outside the parliament where PML-N leaders were allegedly manhandled by PTI supporters.
“These things are not good for democracy and Pakistan,” the PML-N leader said.
Bilawal met Hamza to discuss the PDM’s long march and other political developments.
During their meeting, the two exchanged views on the existing political situation, and the PPP chief congratulated the PML-N leader on the victory of PDM candidate Gillani in the March 3 Senate elections, according to the PPP.
PPP leader had been accompanied by senior members of the party including Yousaf Raza Gillani and Qamar Zaman Kaira.
This is the first time the two leaders have met ever since Hamza’s release from jail.
