No-confidence motion in Pakistan sees quick twists and turns
Opposition garners support of another lawmaker from Balochistan
Islamabad: Parliamentarians from both the government and the opposition sides are spending sleepless nights chasing their party members, vying for their support in the crucial no-confidence motion tabled against Prime Minister Imran Khan in the National Assembly. The vote will be held sometime next week.
Khan wins back Elahi
The joint opposition, which was shocked after losing the potential support of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) — an allied party of Imran Khan-led government with five members in the National Assembly and 10 in the Provincial Assembly of Punjab — got a new lease of life when four members of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) announced they would part ways with Khan’s government and join anti-government forces.
PML-Q leader and Speaker of Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, who was promised the top slot in the Punjab (chief minister) by the opposition parties after the success of the no-confidence motion, changed his mind at the last minute and joined the government camp. In return, Khan announced he would be accepting the resignation of current Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and giving the post to Elahi.
Balochistan MNAs join opposition
However, opposition leaders, former president Asif Zardari, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and former Chief Minister of the Punjab Shehbaz Sharif and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman who were left high and dry at the sudden ‘blow’ by the PML-Q heaved a sigh of relief when the BAP leaders announced at a press conference they had “accepted the opposition’s invitation.”
The announcement was made by BAP’s parliamentary leader Nawabzada Mir Khalid Khan Magsi who was joined by three other party MNAs.
Magsi said that his party had reached the conclusion to join the opposition after consultations as they had “bitter experiences in the past”.
“We wanted the country to be handled in a new manner,” he said, adding “Balochistan has been deprived” and the party wanted the province’s issues to be addressed, which was why BAP had decided to support the opposition.
On Tuesday, too, the opposition secured one more vote, Mohammad Aslam Bhootani, an independent MNA elected from the Gwadar-Lasbela NA-272 constituency in Balochistan.
At a press conference that was attended by Asif Zardari, his son and the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, senior leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the JUI-F, Bhootani said he had decided to quit the ruling coalition and join hands with the opposition.
“I have decided to leave the government alliance,” Bhootani told the mediax.
“My family and I have very good relations with Asif Ali Zardari and I cannot ignore him,” Aslam Bhootani said. Bhootani had joined the PTI-led government in 2018 when Imran Khan came to power and supported it for over three and a half years.
Zardari ‘surprised’
During the press conference when Zardari was asked by a reporter what made Elahi return to the government camp, he expressed his surprise saying a day earlier, Elahi had called him giving assurance that he along with his MNAs and MPAs would stand by the opposition.
“We had reached a consensus to make him the chief minister of Punjab but at the eleventh hour, he left us, this is quite surprising,” said Zardari.
The opposition needed to show 172 votes (simple majority) in the National Assembly to make their no-confidence move successful. Presently, they are a little short, as they have 170. However, a number of dissident MNAs have assured their support and promised to vote against the PM at the time of vote count.
The government and the opposition are currently vying for the support of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) that has seven votes in the National Assembly and has not yet come clear on whose side it stands.