PML-Q to vote against RGST in lower house

PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat has ruled out the possibility of walking out again.

ISLAMABAD: A day after their walkout from the Senate, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) on Saturday vowed that it would vote against the reformed general sales tax (RGST) in the National Assembly.

The party’s walkout is believed to have facilitated the government in approving the recommendations of the upper house on the RGST bill.

“We will not stage a walkout from the National Assembly but will vote against the bill,” said Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, president of his faction of the internally-divided PML-Q, while talking to reporters at his residence.

Shujaat said anyone who would vote against the party line will be disqualified and he will send a reference against the member to unseat her or him for violating the party’s discipline.

The coalition government led by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is facing friction on the RGST issue with its coalition partners Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam opposing the legislation. Recommendations of the Senate were approved and sent to the National Assembly on Friday amid protests from allies and opposition.

The government needs to get the bill approved from the National Assembly. The PPP, with more than 120 members in the lower house of parliament, would need the support from either of its allies or one of the two major groups in the opposition, the PML-N or PML-Q for the adoption of the legislation with a simple majority in the 342-member house.

Almost all mainstream parties other than the ruling PPP have vowed to oppose the bill, but it is believed that the government is trying to cajole some parties and groups for support.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2010.