PPP, PML-N’s divergent views over govt’s ouster come to fore

ISLAMABAD: A day after Bilawal Bhutto Zardari floated the idea of removing the Prime Minister through a no-confidence motion, the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) efforts to oust the government became muddied after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ahsan Iqbal said if the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman had the required numbers, he should share them.

In a news conference on Saturday, Iqbal questioned Bilawal’s proposal by voicing the PML-N’s position on the matter. “The recommendation (of a no-trust bid) is an old one. As far as the PML-N is concerned, if PPP has the numbers [for a no-confidence motion to be successful], he should share them,” Iqbal said.

On Saturday, the PPP chairman said he would advise the PDM to “strike in the assemblies”, and opt for a no-confidence motion, which he said is the constitutional and democratic course of action to remove the “incompetent, undeserving, selected” Premier. He also said a single opposition meeting focusing on the no-confidence strategy would leave the government feeling more unsettled than “10 rallies”.

In his press conference, Ahsan Iqbal reminded the PPP chairman that the Senate Chairman survived a no-trust motion against him despite the opposition having the required numbers, and that the PML-N believes a “decisive march” is the only way to oust the government.

In August last year, the opposition-dominated Senate tabled a motion expressing no confidence in Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, which fell three votes short. A government minister, on the other hand, voiced his approval of Bilawal’s proposal. Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, in a press conference in Lahore, praised the PPP Chairman for “coming of age”. “Nothing happens with rallies, a no-confidence motion is the only way,” Rashid said, terming the lawmaker “sensible”.

On December 9, 2020 it was Prime Minister Khan himself that challenged the opposition to use “the constitutional method” of removing him, by tabling a no confidence motion in Parliament. “If the opposition seeks to move a no-confidence motion, they should come and do so in the assemblies,” he had said in a conversation with reporters in Sialkot. At the time, the PDM was threatening to resign from the assemblies.