Opposition promises to protect dissident lawmakers of Pakistan’s ruling party ahead of no-trust vote

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s opposition on Thursday assured lawmakers belonging to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party it would protect them from the wrath of the government if they participated in the no-confidence voting to topple Prime Minister Imran Khan’s administration.
The opposition submitted the motion in the National Assembly Secretariat on Tuesday while hoping to get support from dissident PTI members along with other coalition partners.
The opposition collectively has 162 votes against 179 of the government in the 342-member National Assembly. One seat is vacant due to the death of a legislator. The opposition requires at least 172 votes to bring down Khan’s government.
“We will protect all those who will vote in favor of the no-confidence [against the prime minister],” Marriyum Aurangzeb, a spokesperson for the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, said while addressing a news conference in Islamabad.
The government on the other hand has announced its strategy to foil the opposition’s move, saying no PTI lawmaker or member of its allied parties would go to the assembly on the voting day.
Earlier today, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser had the right to disqualify lawmakers who crossed floor during the no-confidence session.
“The speaker has the right to disqualify any PTI member who disrespects the votes they secured due to Imran Khan,” he said while referring to Article 63-A of the constitution that was passed in April 2010 to discourage lawmakers from changing their political loyalties.
This article empowers a parliamentary party’s head to move a reference for disqualification of a lawmaker in case of a defection or voting in parliament against the party’s directives.
The opposition said that implementation of the article was possible only after someone had voted against the party policy, adding the party chief could not stop them from going to parliament.
“This is false propaganda ... the implementation of the defection clause will be possible after a member casts vote,” Khurram Dastgir, another senior PML-N leader, said while jointly addressing the news conference with Aurangzeb.
“Nobody, including Imran Khan, has the right to stop lawmakers from coming to parliament,” Aurangzeb said.
Legal experts maintained party heads would have to follow procedure to get a dissident member of their party disqualified from the election commission. They also maintained the speaker had no authority to declare vote of any disgruntled member invalid.
“The law is very clear. Any dissident member of a party can vote on the no-confidence motion and the speaker will have to count it,” Justice (r) Shaiq Usmani told Arab News. “The speaker has no authority to cancel or invalidate any vote in the National Assembly.”
He said the election commission could disqualify a lawmaker for violating Article 63-A after following the required legal process.
“A lawmaker cannot be disqualified just on the direction or wish of a party chief,” he added.
Barrister Omar Malik said if the speaker declared the vote of a ruling party’s disgruntled member as canceled, this would be against the law and constitution.
“In this case, the matter will ultimately land in the Supreme Court for adjudication,” he told Arab News.