Govt determined to defeat opposition in case of no-confidence motion: Qureshi

Says tabling such a motion means accepting Imran Khan as elected premier; PDM alliance shattering

MULTAN:

Unfazed by the PPP’s proposal to move a no-confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, some key members of the federal cabinet on Sunday said the ruling alliance is fully prepared to defeat all such moves. 

“The PTI government is prepared to defeat any such motion. Those talking about moving a no-confidence motion have accepted Imran Khan as the prime minister," Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi said while talking to reporters in his hometown of Multan.

“Imran Khan was elected as the prime minister by the people of Pakistan and hence, the practice of referring to him as the 'selected' prime minister must stop," the minister added.

During a visit to Larkana, the PPP chief on Friday said he would suggest that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) – an 11-party anti-government alliance – table a no-confidence motion in the parliament to dislodge the PTI government.

“The PPP through the PDM platform will send this [PTI] government home in a democratic, legal and constitutional way,” Bilawal had said. The PPP chief’s suggestion had exposed cracks in the PDM as PML-N disagreed with the proposal saying only a decisive long march could shake the government.

Qureshi said the opposition alliance has started to disintegrate, claiming that the political parties that are part of the PDM are not focused anymore.

Minister for Interior Sheikh Rashid also played down the PPP’s proposal and said the PDM is most welcome to move as many no-confidence motions as it likes. “They have attempted this earlier in the Senate [when opposition tried to oust Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani in 2019] but failed,” he said.

Also read: PML-N, PPP drift apart on no-trust against govt

The top security czar said the opposition parties are not going to hand in their resignations from legislatures as they earlier announced on December 14. “They campaigning for the upcoming by-polls and will also participate in the Senate election.”

Rashid claimed that the only option left for the opposition is that of a long march and the government is ready to give it permission for that. “However, don’t expect us to provide people to you for your power show,” he quipped.

The interior minister said he was only concerned about the future of PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman as his politics – according to Rashid – seems to end up down a blind alley.

Minister for Science Fawad Chaudhry took to Twitter to comment on the PPP’s suggestion to move a no-confidence motion against the government and said the PDM has neither any strategy nor any plan.

“They first announced to resign from assemblies; then they announced to hold more public rallies and now they talk about a no-confidence motion.

“Who has the guts to move such a motion against the prime minister? Now only a good luck could save you from lifelong imprisonment and disqualification [to hold public office]. 

“You cannot hope to bring the government down,” Chaurdhry said in a series of posts.