At long last, the united opposition front submitted a no-confidence motion on Tuesday against the chief executive of the country – Prime Minister Imran Khan – while pinning its hopes for the success of the motion on the estranged members of the ruling party and its allies.
The submission of the motion was followed by a press conference by the top leadership of the opposition parties, including PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, JUI-F and PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and PPP leader Asif Zardari, who said that the days of the prime minister were numbered and that no rhetoric could save him anymore.
At the press conference, the top guns of the opposition parties appeared confident that they would succeed in passing the no-trust motion against the premier, saying the opposition would surely bring the members and make sure that it had more than 172 members’ support.
The top opposition figures lambasted the poor performance of the premier and listed down reasons for tabling the no-confidence motion, the chief among them was the government destroying the economy and failing to provide the promised relief to the masses.
“This government has inflicted unprecedented damage to the country’s economy during its almost four years in power,” Shehbaz said at the outset of the joint presser, while explaining the reasons for submitting the motion against Imran. “Inflation has touched historic highs…the lives of the masses have been made miserable by ‘selected’ prime minister.”
Shehbaz also lashed out at the premier for publicly criticising EU envoys at his recent address, saying: “We have a huge trade balance with the EU and America and premier’s address could damage it.”
The PML-N president also rubbished the premier’s allegations that opposition’s attempt to topple his government was part of the “international conspiracy”, saying: “I don’t think there could be a more stupid and illogical allegation than this.”
The PML-N president said that tabling of the no-confidence motion was not taken for personal interests but for fulfilling the wishes of the people. Asked if the opposition had the support of the PTI ally, the Balochistan National Party, Shehbaz said the he had met with them as part of political process and similar to opposition’s meetings with the PML-Q and MQM-P. On the no-trust motion, he said, the people would not forgive them if there was further delay in the move.
اپوزیشن کی جانب سے عدم اعتماد کی تحریک جمع کر دی گئی pic.twitter.com/Ppg4ii5k4u
— Syed Khursheed Shah (@S_KhursheedShah) March 8, 2022
When asked if the opposition had already decided about its candidate for the prime ministership if the no-confidence motion was successful, Shehbaz said the decision would be made after consulting all opposition parties. Even if such things were finalised they would not be revealed now, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, JUI-F chief accused the premier of promoting Western agenda in Pakistan. “I had said earlier that he [Imran Khan] was agent of some foreign elements,” he charged. “We rejected the results of 2018 elections and termed them rigged... we did not compromise on our stance that the nation’s mandate was stolen.”
Fazl said that their movement against the “selected rulers” had vindicated their stance regarding the rigged elections. He also agreed with Shehbaz’s view that the incumbent government had destroyed the economy. “This is the reason that no foreign investor is willing to invest in Pakistan,” he added.
“We have submitted the no-confidence motion and his [PM Imran] days are numbered and no rhetoric could save him now,” Fazl continued. He said he never trusted Imran’s pre-election promises of providing millions of jobs and low-cost houses, expressing that now the people have also realised that all his promises were fake.
The JUI-F chief said no one had criticised the Western policies more than him but he did not want to fight with anyone and wanted cordial ties with all countries. “We are confident that this no-confidence motion will succeed and the nation will soon get rid of these incompetent rulers,” he said.
الحمد للہ! قوم کی نجات کی گنتی شروع ھو گئ. اللہ کریم pic.twitter.com/gDuj8H4IqN
— Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) March 8, 2022
“We all are political and democratic forces… we want all institutions to function within their constitutional boundaries so that no allegations of political meddling arise in the future,” the JUI-F chief said, while replying to a question.
Speaking on the occasion, Zardari said all opposition parties had agreed that no single party alone could steer the country out of the “crisis” and needed to unanimously move against the government. Responding to a question, Zardari said he was confident that opposition parties have garnered support of more than 172 MNAs required to remove the premier.
“Not only opposition but the ruling PTI lawmakers are also fed up with their government because they have to contest elections and go back to their constituencies,” Zardari said. At one point, Zardari said, the opposition had decided that it was “now or never” as continuation of the government would further worsen the situation to an extent where no one will be able to rectify it.
Read: No-trust threat takes its toll on PM Imran
He said that the opposition consulted each other and reached the conclusion that they would have to work together to take the country out of crisis. Before the press conference, the opposition submitted two sets of documents, one requisitioning a session of the National Assembly and the other a resolution calling for a no-confidence vote against the premier.
Senior members of opposition parties submitted the motion to the National Assembly Secretariat. Ayaz Sadiq, Saad Rafique, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Rana Sanaullah, Shazia Marri, Naveed Qamar, Shahida Akhtar Ali and Alia Kamran were among those who reached the parliament house to submit the motion.
Speaking to the media after submitting the motion, PML-N’s Rana Sanaullah said that “all plans of the government would fail” and the opposition had the required numbers on its side to turn the tables on Prime Minister Imran.
Reacting to the development, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari wrote “democracy is the best revenge” on his official Twitter handle. The government has been walking a tightrope for the past several weeks and with mounting pressure from the opposition parties and finally submitting of no-trust motion, the prime minister, however, repeatedly said that he was prepared to defeat the opposition’s moves.
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