Election of new PM ‘must be added to NA agenda’

Opposition says no NRO for Imran, who is ‘unconstitutionally’ holding post of prime minister

ISLAMABAD:

The joint opposition on Thursday demanded that the election of a new prime minister must be added to the agenda of the National Assembly session.

An application was submitted to the NA Secretariat by PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq and PPP’s Naveed Qamar and Shazia Marri on behalf of Shehbaz Sharif, the PML-N president and leader of the opposition in the house.

The application read that a supplementary agenda should be issued to include the matter of electing a new premier in case the no-confidence motion was passed in the ongoing session.

“We request that the election of a new prime minister be included in the agenda by issuing a supplementary agenda if the no-confidence motion succeeds,” said MNA Sadiq.

In a meeting held at PML-N president’s residence, the joint opposition reiterated its decision to bring the no-confidence motion to a logical conclusion in accordance with the “stipulated time frame through the law and a parliamentary democratic process”. It emphasised that it would not grant an NRO (an amnesty to those facing corruption charges) to Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Referring to rumours of PM Imran suggesting to offer an NRO to some rival lawmakers, the opposition leaders maintained that they would not be swayed by the media’s “misleading news”.

Read Govt leads opp by two votes in no-confidence number game

The lawmakers observed that they would establish new democratic and constitutional traditions in the country and “abandon the undemocratic attitudes of the past forever”.

The meeting, attended by 172 members of the National Assembly from the joint opposition and its supporting parties including MNAs of the ruling PTI, expressed satisfaction over the availability of more than the required number of lawmakers for the success of the no-confidence motion.

According to a statement issued after the meeting, its participants declared that PM Imran had lost his majority and was “unconstitutionally” holding the post of prime minister.

“In his dictatorial desire to cling to power, he is threatening to bring over 0.1 million people to Islamabad and bent on shoving the country into conflict and chaos,” it added.

The opposition declared that PM Imran would be responsible for all the consequences of his “unintentional” moves.

“The meeting wants to make it clear to the government machinery including IG Islamabad, district administration and other concerned agencies that they should not follow the ‘illegal orders’ of a person, who will not remain the prime minister for long.” It warned that the authorities, which were trying to be a tool of a political party, would have to face the Constitution and law.