Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: PTI leaders and federal ministers have vowed to thwart opposition’s attempt to oust Prime Minister Imran Khan through no-confidence motion, which was submitted in the National Assembly Secretariat on Tuesday.
In a statement, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said filing no-trust motion was opposition parties’ constitutional right but added that the ruling party along with its coalition partners will defeat the opponents in the “political battle”.
“Imran Khan is an elected prime minister who came into power through a huge public mandate in 2018 elections,” he maintained.
FM Qureshi said he discussed the matter of no-confidence vote with the premier and it had been decided that the ruling party will make all-out efforts to foil the opposition’s move.
Qureshi said he briefed the premier on opposition’s “ulterior motives” behind the no-trust move and claimed that he had “some information” regarding opposition’s movement which he said he would make public “very soon”.
He also maintained that PTI allies including MQM-P, PML-Q and BAP will not support the opposition in the National Assembly, adding that the timing of presenting such a motion was not “appropriate”.
“Opposition parties are fighting for their survival. Prime Minister Imran Khan cannot be pressured through such moves,” the statement quoted him as saying.
In a tweet, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that PM Imran Khan “is the only political leader of the country”.
“Let all political ‘dwarfs’ make joint efforts… but they are doomed to fail,” he added.
He also dispelled the notion of any internal rift within the ranks of PTI, saying in democracy everyone has the right to express his own point of view.
Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib said the opposition’s no-trust move against PM Imran would meet an “exemplary defeat”.
In a tweet, he said, a trio of opposition parties’ leaders including Asif Ali Zardari, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Shehbaz Sharif were out to protect their “looted money”.
Farrukh said the masses knew as to how the trio became billionaires after ruthlessly “plundering” the national wealth.
PM’s aide on political communication Shehbaz Gill “welcomed” the opposition’s move to submit no-confidence motion in the lower house of parliament.
“[PM] Imran Khan’s message to his nation is that he will fight… [and] will never give NRO to these thieves. Khan is ready to compete and will defeat them [opposition]… the whole nation stands with Khan,” he wrote on his official Twitter handle.
