PTI, allies 'consider no-confidence' against PM, NA speaker

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in consultation with opposition allies, is reportedly weighing the option of bringing no-confidence motions against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.

Sources affiliated with the party said that during a recent meeting between PTI founder Imran Khan, his legal team, and his sisters, the idea of a no-confidence motion against the speaker was actively discussed.

The founder was briefed on the opposition alliance's stance, including that of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai, who has publicly expressed no confidence in the current speaker.

The sources further claim that the PTI founder directed the party’s leadership and allied opposition parties to move ahead with planning the motion, giving them full authority to execute the strategy when the time was right.

Party insiders also quoted the PTI founder as saying that the current government must be challenged — both inside and outside Parliament.

Commenting on the matter, senior PTI leader and former speaker Asad Qaiser confirmed that both the prime minister and the speaker were being considered as targets for no-confidence motions.

"We are keeping this option under consideration," he said. "Due to Pakistan-India tensions, we have temporarily held back. If we moved now, it might be seen as politicising a time of national crisis."

Qaiser added that the no-confidence option would be used "at the appropriate time" and reiterated that both posts — prime minister and speaker — remained under scrutiny by the opposition camp.

It is pertinent to note that in Pakistan's history, Khan was the only prime minister to be ousted through a no-confidence motion in April 2022.