‘Cabinet to be dismissed if PM fails’

ISLAMABAD: If Prime Minister Imran Khan is unable to get a vote of confidence on Saturday (today), the federal cabinet will be dismissed, said Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid on Saturday.

The interior minister said if the cabinet was dismissed due to a lack of vote of confidence, the premier will continue to work until the election of the next prime minister, the media reports. He also spoke about the Senate elections held earlier this week, saying all institutions remained neutral in the Senate polls.

Rashid agreed with former president Asif Ali Zardari's statement that less votes were bought than his estimate. Zardari had said a day earlier that Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) Senate candidate Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani secured fewer votes than expected as he was supposed to get at least 20 more votes. Appearing on Geo News programme Capital Talk, the PPP co-chairperson opined that Gilani's victory should have been by more than five votes. In fact, Gilani should have polled 20 more votes on way to his victory, he said.

Sh Rashid said the PDM will go to Punjab before the long march and expressed hope that the Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi will stand with Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

Talking about the FATF, he said Pakistan would come out of grey list of Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), as it had complied with almost all points of the action plan. The minister said Pakistan had complied with 24 out of 27 points and would soon come out of the grey list.

“The remaining three points would also be cleared soon and the country would succeed in exiting the grey list in its next meeting, the minister opined. He said the civil-military relations were exemplary and a precedent had been set for better understanding between them in future to put the country on the right track of development.

He said Pakistan under the leadership of Imran Khan was enjoying good relations with United States, China, Russian, Saudi Arabia and the other Arab countries. “Peace in Afghanistan is very much crucial and Pakistan always wished stability there,” he added.

He said Pakistan got a significant position in the comity of nations as the naval exercise of around 40 countries had been conducted here. He said successful discussion with India would only be possible when it restored Jammu and Kashmir’s status and included it on the agenda of talks. Setting aside Kashmir issue would be disloyalty, he added.