Opposition says has 'numbers' to dislodge Khan government as no-confidence motion pressure mounts

ISLAMABAD: Members of a Pakistani opposition alliance are considering the modalities and legal aspects of a no-confidence motion before making their move in parliament to dislodge Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government while hoping to finalize their strategy in the next 10 days.
The nine-party Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) announced its decision to table a no-trust motion earlier this month, knowing it would need the support of at least 172 lawmakers in the 342-member National Assembly to bring down the government.
The PDM has collectively 156 seats in the assembly and is short of 16 votes to achieve its objective. The alliance is trying to woo smaller parliamentary parties who are currently allied with the government.
“We have the required numbers in the National Assembly to dislodge this government,” Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a former Pakistani prime minister and senior lawmaker of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, told Arab News on Sunday. However, he declined to share the details of how the opposition would reach the magical number of 172.
Abbasi said a committee of the opposition factions had been “working out the modalities” to go ahead with the move.
“People are fed up with the performance of this government and they want us to overthrow it,” he added.
Asked about the nomination of the next prime minister from the opposition alliance in case its move succeeded, he said his party would demand new general elections to seek fresh mandate instead of continuing with the current assembly.
“We can directly go for general elections after the success of the no-confidence motion,” he said. “There is no need to install a new prime minister, and the constitution allows it as well.”
Abbasi confirmed the opposition would first move the no-confidence at the federal level before going to the province of Punjab to dislodge the chief minister. “Hopefully, we will be moving the no-trust against the government in the next ten days,” he maintained.
Another major opposition faction in parliament, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), started a long march on Islamabad from Karachi on Sunday to “expose” the government by mobilizing the public. The march is expected to reach the federal capital in the next ten days as per the party’s announcement.
“Our protest march will prove to be the last nail in the coffin of this government,” Senator Palwasha Khan, deputy information secretary of the PPP, told Arab News.
She also claimed the opposition had completed the numbers required to topple the government without divulging further details. “The government’s allied parties will also see public sentiment through our march and decide to quit the alliance,” she claimed.
The PPP office-bearer declined to share details of any consensus within the opposition when asked about its next possible steps.
“You will see all these things at the appropriate time,” she commented.
Prime Minister Imran Khan assumed charge of the country’s top political office in August 2018 after winning a majority in the last general elections. The opposition parties alleged rigging in the polls, though the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party denied their claim.
The opposition PDM alliance has also announced to lodge a protest demonstration in Islamabad on March 23 to mount pressure on the government to make it resign.
“We may submit thee separate no-confidence motions in the National Assembly against the prime minister, speaker and deputy speaker, and we are considering different legal aspects,” Aslam Ghauri, a spokesperson for the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) party, told Arab News.
Talking about the logic behind bring these no-trust motions, he said the opposition would like to cripple the government’s influence over the house. “The speaker and deputy speaker won’t be able to chair the session after submission of no-confidence against them,” he explained.
Ghauri said a committee comprising legal experts was looking into different options as well before submitting the no-confidence motions. “We want to be ready beforehand for any retaliatory move by the government,” he said. “What if the President delays summoning of the session for vote of no-confidence? We are considering that too.”
The JUI-F leader also claimed to have completed the number game required to topple the government without providing further details. “We will have at least six more votes than what we need to oust the government,” he claimed while declining to share his preferred scenario after the no-confidence motion.
The federal and state ministers for information and broadcasting did not respond to calls and text messages seeking their comments for the story.
In a statement on Sunday, Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the “leaderless” and “aimless” alliance of the opposition parties posed no serious threat to “the democratically-elected government.”
“We have been hearing for the last fifteen to twenty days a no-trust move is around the corner,” he said, “but in reality, it is beyond their power since they lack the capacity to bring the motion.”