ISLAMABAD: Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, the leader of the government’s key coalition partner, the Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), said on Thursday it would be “very difficult” for Prime Minister Imran Khan to survive a no-confidence motion filed against him in parliament, expected to be put to vote later this month.
Pakistani opposition parties filed a no-confidence motion against the prime minister last Tuesday, the toughest challenge Khan has faced since assuming office in 2018.
The opposition needs a simple majority of 172 votes in the 342-seat National Assembly to oust the premier.
“After what transpired today, it looks as if it is very difficult for the government to survive,” Siddiqui, MQM-P’s convener, said, referring to several members of Khan's PTI party defecting ahead of the no-confidence vote.
“It is my personal opinion: I think Imran Khan can save the PTI government but it doesn’t seem likely that he will remain [in office],” he added.
When asked what side his party was on, Siddiqui said the MQM-P wanted “clarifications and guarantees” from both the government and the opposition on various issues.
“As you know, we are with the government. However, when you realize that the prime minister doesn’t have the authority to resolve various issues, then there isn’t much advantage for us to be in the government,” he said.
Siddiqui's comments came as another key ally, the PML-Q, said Khan was in danger of losing his coalition partners, flagging a "tilt" by his partners in government towards their opponents.
The opposition blames Khan for mismanaging the country, economy and foreign policy.
"We have differences with the prime minister," one of his lawmakers, Raja Riaz, told local Geo News TV. "We will vote according to our conscience," he said, claiming there were more than 20 defectors.
Three more lawmakers endorsed Riaz and TV showed recorded footage of several ruling party members at an office of the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in Islamabad.
"We are clear that we will not get into any blackmailing to save our government," Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain told a news conference. "We reject this culture of turncoats."
Without the coalition partners and the dissidents, Khan's party, which has 155 seats in the lower house, would fall short of the 172 needed to retain power.
The joint opposition consists of major parties such as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and has a strength of nearly 163 in the lower house.
The opposition and political analysts say Khan has fallen out with Pakistan's powerful military whose support they see as critical for any political party to attain power in the way the former cricket star's upstart party did four years ago.
Khan and the military deny the accusation.