Imran faces revolt

The ongoing power game turned ugly for Prime Minister Imran Khan even before the voting on the no-confidence motion as around two dozen disgruntled MNAs of the ruling PTI came out in the open on Thursday.

Taking refuge at the Sindh House in the federal capital, several of them gave interviews to different anchorpersons, saying they had parted ways with the ruling party and would not contest the next elections on a PTI ticket.

One of them rubbed even more salt on the wounds when he claimed that three federal ministers had already quit the PTI.

In an interview to anchorperson to a private TV channel, PTI’s estranged member Raja Riaz disclosed that around 24 disgruntled MNAs of the ruling party were staying at the Sindh House, fearing government action against them like the one they witnessed when the Islamabad police had raided the Parliament Lodges a week ago.

However, Riaz, who had joined the group of estranged PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen, maintained that he was ready to move back to the Parliament Lodges if the premier assured him that the police would not swing into action against him.

Riaz further said the lawmakers were not missing as they were in Islamabad, saying they had differences with PM Imran and his government’s policies. “The PTI’s troubles stem from its incompetent advisers and assistants,” he added.

He challenged that if anyone had any doubt about the 24 MNAs, then they were “more than welcome” to call a meeting of the parliamentary committee and see the results themselves.

Read: Opposition urges PM Imran to step down voluntarily after ‘losing majority’

Riaz, along with Noor Alam Khan, Malik Nawab Sher Waseer, Ramesh Kumar and others, rejected allegations of taking money from the opposition for switching sides.

They regretted that they were the ones raising their voice against corruption for the last three-and-a-half years but no one paid heed to it.

Noticeably, MNA Noor Alam Khan had long been expressing his dissent and even asked to place the names of the lawmakers sitting in the first three rows of the treasury benches, including PM Imran, on the Exit Control List.

Sources said other PTI members currently at Sindh House include Rana Qasim Noon, Ghaffar Wattoo, Riaz Mazari, Basit Bukhari, Khawaja Sheraz, Ahmad Hasan Dehar, Nuzhat Pathan and Wajeeha Qamar.

In a startling revelation, PTI’s Ramesh Kumar claimed that 33 members of the assembly, including three federal ministers, had left the ruling party and the prime minister should immediately resign now.

Sharing his reason of taking refuge at Sindh House, Kumar said he had sought protection from Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah after his wife was threatened at Parliament Lodges.

Another PTI MNA Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon said the “government has lost its opportunity” to restore normalcy to the political situation. “Governments do not stage rallies… they hold negotiations. They [government] should have resolved the matter through political talks... this is not a Hitler regime,” he added while speaking to a local broadcaster.

The allegations about coercion and bribery surfaced after PM Imran had claimed during a public address that opposition leaders were sitting in the Sindh House with “heaps of money” to purchase loyalties of treasury lawmakers.

Read: Qureshi speaks highly of allies as no-trust move nears

The premier had asked the election commission to take action against this “horse-trading”.
The country plunged into political crisis just a day after PM’s statement when the disgruntled members came out in the open and denied the allegations, saying they were staying at Sindh House over safety concerns and had not received a single penny.

They added that they would vote on the no-confidence motion against PM Imran in “accordance with their conscience”.

The interviews of the dissenting members and footage running on TV channels showing them present at Sindh House came at a time when the opposition parties, including the ruling party in Sindh, have been attempting to oust the PTI government through a no-trust motion.

Before the situation unfolded, PPP leaders said the government was planning to attack Sindh House on the grounds that the opposition had detained some ruling party lawmakers there ahead of the vote on the no-confidence motion against the prime minister.

Prior to that, PML-Q leader, Speaker Punjab Assembly Parvez Elahi, said in an interview that around 10 to 12 government lawmakers were in “safe custody” of the opposition.

The PML-Q leader said these lawmakers had approached him but were now nowhere to be seen now.

“We have tracked them down. They are in the opposition’s safe custody. The government is actually more concerned about them. The ones who they looked forward to [for support] have stated they are now neutral. No friendly country or institution will come near this matter,” the PML-Q leader said.