Some parties back no-trust move against PM: Ashraf

Says PPP in contact with parties having reservations

ISLAMABAD:

Adamant to its stance of bringing a no-confidence motion against the prime minister, Pakistan Peoples Party leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf claimed that some parties are already onboard while PPP would try to persuade those who had reservations.

Last week, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that tabling a no-confidence motion against the incumbent government was the only democratic option to dislodge the prime minister. Bilawal, whose party is also part of the grand opposition alliance, said the PPP will try to bring the PDM and allied parties on the same page for the stated option.

“Moving a no-confidence motion against the prime minister is a democratic option. The PTI has a thin majority in Punjab and the Centre,” Ashraf told a private news channel on Wednesday.

It is pertinent to mention that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, one of the major opposition parties, has opposed the PPP’s new decision on ousting PM Imran Khan. According to media reports, the N-league was of the view that the no-trust move was against former premier Nawaz Sharif’s stance.

Ashraf said: “Some parties are onboard [with the idea of] 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 parties opposed to the idea].”

He reiterated that the PPP wanted to use all constitutional options against the government.

On the reasons behind the PPP’s efforts to overthrow the ruling party, Ashraf alleged that democracy was in danger because of the ruling government.

Addressing a news conference along with PML-N Deputy Secretary General Ataullah Tarar at the party secretariat at Model Town in Lahore on Saturday, Secretary General Iqbal said “only a decisive long march and action can end this government”, recalling that a no-confidence motion against the government had failed in the Senate despite having numbers. “The PML-N thinks that if [PPP Chairman] Bilawal has numbers for a no-confidence motion and so many members, then he should present them.”

In August last year, the opposition senators had fallen three votes short when the results of the secret ballot of the no-trust motion pushed against upper house Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani were announced.