'We will lock them like pigeons in a cage': Fawad blasts Opp

ISLAMABAD:

As government and opposition leaders continue to trade blows in the volatile days leading to the no-confidence vote, the ruling party ministers reiterated on Wednesday thay efforts to topple Prime Minister Imran Khan would not only serve as a "self-defeating" move but would also provide the government an opportunity to "lock them up in a cage like pigeons".

Talking to the media along with federal ministers and senior party leaders here after a high-level meeting of the PTI, Information Minister Fawad  Chaudhry said the government "will lock them [opposition] like pigeons are locked in a cage".

The statement comes as the as the mercurial mood of the political climate and uncertain stance of allies prolongs tensions, fuelling speculations.

Fawad said the no-trust motion would prove to be a fatal blow for the opposition and draw curtains on its politics once and for all.

Read more: Will take three wickets with one ball: PM Imran

 

“These are the last days of opposition in the politics and once this politics [no-trust bid] is over, Pakistan will move ahead further,” he said and dared the leaders of both Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) to hold even a single public meeting like the ones addressed by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“Show some courage and do a jalsa like Imran Khan,” he added.

'ECP should take notice of horse-trading'

Fawad also lashed out at the opposition for what he termed "the scourge of horse-trading", saying the latter had revived the “meena bazar of mules and horses” at the Sindh House.

The “open sale and purchase of the loyalties of legislators” was underway and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should come into action to stop the practice, he added.

The ECP, he said, should also issue a notice to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz as its leader Javed Latif had confessed of the party’s indulgence in the horse-trading.Separately, in a tweet, Fawad Chaudhry said the ECP should issue a notice to PML-N MP Javed Latif for admitting horse-trading for the success of the no-trust move.

The minister shared a video of Latif admitting PML-N’s role in horse-trading for the success of the motion.

“Principally, the ECP should issue a show-cause notice to PML-N and seek clarification,” he said.

Chaudhry, however, observed the ECP is only after the ruling PTI and is unable to see the acts committed by the PML-N.

During the presser, Fawad also welcomed a recent statement of Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi in which he acknowledged that the prime minister was an honest person and brushed aside the notion about his party’s support for the opposition’s no-trust move.

Read Voting on no-trust motion to take place after March 27: Faisal Javed

'Allies haven't forgotten Opp's ill-treatment'

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi disputed the opposition’s claim that it had managed to gain the required numerical backing to pull off the task of toppling the ruling party was absurd.

In a statement, Qureshi stressed that the premature victory claimed by the opposition parties was false, saying the coalition partners had not forgotten the ‘ill-treatment’ meted out to them by the opposition, which was now seeking their support.

“Does the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) not take into consideration what Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) did to it in Sindh?” he pointed out, saying the decision of the allied parties could not be gauged from ongoing “temporary meetings”.

“If such was the case then the opposition would not have to work this hard to peel off government’s allies,” he asserted and added that the opposition was trying to throw the ruling party’s three-and-a-half-year-old relation with the allies in jeopardy, thereby obstructing the joint efforts taken for the betterment of the country.

Regarding the talks that the joint opposition was ready to hand over the slot of CM Punjab following to Pervaiz Elahi in the prospective political settlement after the no-trust motion, Qureshi said that if the PML-N was making an offer to Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) in return for its backing against the PTI, then “do the friends of the PML-Q not know how many thorns were planted in the path of the PML-Q in the 2018 elections?”

A day earlier, during interactions with media, Qureshi had claimed that the opposition did not have enough numbers to succeed in its no-confidence move against the prime minister, and questioned why the opposition alliance had announced holding a rally in Islamabad if their numbers were sufficient.

"Their announcement for a march proves that their numbers are incomplete and they have differences within their ranks," Qureshi told the media.