No-confidence move in Punjab, Centre unlikely

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is not inclined to go for a no-confidence move against either Prime Minister Imran Khan or Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

A senior PDM leader confided to The News that although Asif Ali Zardari was pressing for this move, others in the PDM are reluctant to go for it because they believe that such a step would not succeed without the assistance of the powers that be.

The failure of any no-confidence motion, whether at the Centre or in Punjab, would weaken the PDM and strengthen the PTI-led coalition government, it is believed.

Even if the establishment stays neutral in such a political move by the opposition parties, it is always easy for the sitting government to foil a no-confidence motion by using its muscle to prevent the presence of opposition members in the house.

The News recently reported that following approaches reportedly made to some leading components of the PDM to mull over ways to replace ‘tabdeeli’, the option of a no-confidence motion was also discussed. It was said that first a no-confidence motion should be brought against Buzdar and then, after a change in Punjab, such a move could be initiated against Imran Khan at the Centre.

Encouraged by these approaches, it is said, the PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari had proposed the no-confidence option in the last meeting of top PDM leaders. However, the idea did not click with most others in the PDM.

The PPP leadership was in favour of pushing for a no-confidence vote against Usman Buzdar. It was suggested that the PML-Q could also support such a move. The PPP also argued that whatever change is pursued should be strictly within the limits of the Constitution.

Among the PDM parties, the Maulana-led JUI-F and the Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N are opposed to this idea and fear that such a move would dent the PDM and its struggle. This is not only because the chances of a no-confidence move being successful without the support of the powers that be are low but because there is also a possibility that such moves are designed to end up hurting the PDM.

It is believed that most of the coalition partners of the PTI and even many within the ruling party would only support such a move when they are told to do. In such a scenario, the sources said, the PDM’s fundamental cause of disengaging the establishment from politics would get negated and the very purpose of creating the opposition alliance would fail.

While the PDM is now more focused on the removal of the Imran Khan government, there is no clear roadmap of how the opposition alliance would send the PTI government home. While a no-confidence move is the constitutional way to dislodge an elected government through an in-house change, it has never succeeded in the past.

The political parties within the PDM are also well aware of how they had failed to oust the incumbent Chairman Senate, Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, despite the fact that the opposition had a comfortable majority to do so.