LAHORE: Opposition leaders and political analysts have warned of potential violent clashes in Islamabad as the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan gave a call for a million-strong rally of the ruling party’s supporters in Islamabad ahead of a vote of no confidence in parliament against the PM, expected to take place later this month.
Pakistan’s opposition parties last Tuesday moved a no-confidence motion seeking the ouster of Khan, accusing him of bad governance and mismanagement of the economy in what is being seen as the toughest challenge the PM has faced since coming to power in a 2018 general election.
Following the filing of the no confidence request with parliament, Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain suggested “one million” supporters of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party would gather at Islamabad’s D-Chowk ahead of voting day. Lawmakers who wanted to vote against Khan, he said, would “have to pass through these people on their way in and out of the Parliament building.”
In response, the opposition Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDM) has called on its own supporters to gather in Islamabad from March 25, setting the stage for a potentially violent clash.
“A million people gathering on D-Chowk a day before the no confidence motion will be a referendum [on PM Khan] and a referendum is important,” Hussain said, reiterating that supporters at the rally would stop defecting members of the ruling party from going to parliament.
When asked if the party had instructed supporters to prevent disgruntled members from going to vote in parliament, Hussain replied: “Workers are already indignant at the betrayal by the defecting parliamentarians so they would stop them themselves.”
The information minister dismissed the reminder that a no confidence vote was a constitutional right and a legitimate part of parliamentary politics: “The parliamentary party process is subservient to politics and this [holding a rally] is how politics is shaping.”
Responding to alarm about possible violence on voting day, Hussain said the government would take care of security:
“Will manage the law and order, don’t worry!”
A leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-Fazl, whose leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman heads the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of opposition parties, said the opposition’s supporters would gather at the same spot as the government rally, Islamabad’s D-Chowk, and stay there until the vote took place.
“We know well how to tackle the blackmailing of the government,” JUI-F leader Rashid Soomro told Arab News. “And if the situation in the federal capital spirals out of control that day, the onus will be on the ruling party.”
Azma Bukhari, a provincial spokesperson for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party, also added: “A clash is imminent but the responsibility will lie with the government not us. They cannot always arm-twist opponents.”
She said the opposition parties would move toward parliament on the day of the vote “in the form of a convoy.”
“We will see to it that no disgruntled ruling party’s member is stopped from voting against this government,” Bukhari said. “All the opposition will be there outside the parliament and it has been decided that all MNAs will move together toward the parliament.”
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senator Sherry Rehman said the government’s announcement to hold a rally on D-Chowk to block parliamentarians from voting was “downright reprehensible.”
“The government claims to have a majority in the National Assembly, so why panic now? This is a testament to the triumph of the no-confidence motion,” he said. “It is rather unprecedented for the ruling party’s first response to be resorting to mob violence.”
The Pakistan Constitution empowers legislators of the National Assembly, whether they belong to the ruling or opposition parties, to vote on a no-confidence resolution according to their conscience, though legislators who vote contrary to party direction face the threat of losing their membership in the National Assembly under Article 63A which deals with disqualification on the grounds of defection.
“Threatening members [of disqualification] and preventing them from voting is a violation of the constitution and rules,” Rehman said. “Even the National Assembly secretariat has told the speaker that preventing any parliamentarian from casting their vote is unconstitutional.”
Veteran journalist and political commentator Sohail Warraich told Arab News it was the responsibility of Asad Qaiser, the National Assembly speaker, to ensure the government or ruling party did not take steps that would block legislators from their constitutional right to vote.
“The speaker is the custodian of the house and he should make sure that this matter is resolved within the precincts of the national assembly and not outside,” Warriah said. “If a clash takes place, it will not only jeopardize the government but the whole democratic process.”
Warriach gave the example of then prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, who was subjected to an unsuccessful no confidence vote in November 1989.
“This is a constitutional and democratic process. Malik Mairaj Khalid was speaker of the national assembly when a no confidence motion was moved against Benazir and he handled the matter in such a non-partisan way that PPP started doubting its own speaker of being partisan in favor of the opposition. That’s the way Asad Qaiser should tread here.”
Commenting on the information minister’s remarks that the D-Chowk rally would be a referendum on PM Khan, Warriach said: “What should be settled in parliament must be settled in parliament.”