ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), a key coalition partner of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of Prime Minister Imran Khan, has said its leaders had not made any decision yet that could "harm" the PTI but added that up to 12 members of the PTI were supporting an opposition alliance.

Pervaiz Elahi, a senior leader of the PML-Q, made headlines on Tuesday after he spoke openly against the Khan government in an interview, raising widespread concerns his party would abandon the PM at a crucial political juncture when he faces a no confidence vote in parliament.

However, on Wednesday night, in an interview on the Nuqta e Nazar talk show on Dunya News , Elahi clarified that his party was not leaving the ruling coalition.

“In the past three and half years, we supported PTI in every moment, despite whatever hardships came our way and tried to overlook [issues] and moved on,” Elahi said. “We have not yet made any decision that is causing harm to PTI.”

He said his party was deliberating with other political parties in the ruling coalition to chalk out a joint strategy on the no confidence vote.

Elahi also said up to 12 members of the PTI were supporting the opposition alliance.

"The 10-12 government lawmakers also approached me, but now they are nowhere to be seen," he said. "We have tracked them down; they are in the opposition's safe custody. The government is actually more concerned about them. The ones who they looked forward to [for support] have stated they are now neutral."

In a statement on Wednesday seen as a backtracking of his critical interview a day earlier, Elahi called Khan an “honest man” and added: “We have neither left the government nor joined the opposition ... We are part of the government and have supported it in every difficult time.”

Following the submission of the no-trust motion against the prime minister by the opposition in parliament last week, Khan has scrambled to meet senior leaders of his party as well as disgruntled figures within and reached out to leaders of allied parties to ensure they vote in his favor.

Under the rules of the national assembly, a simple majority, 172 votes, is required to remove the prime minister from office.

Currently, the government has a 17-member lead over the opposition in parliament.

Khan became prime minister in 2018 after leading the PTI to a general election victory which, his critics said, was backed by the military.

Both Khan and the military deny this.