Photo courtesy PPP Media Cell
Opposition maintains it will succeed in ousting P.M. Imran Khan through vote of no-confidence
Former president Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday vowed to oust the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government in Punjab, adding that the party does not have the numbers necessary to replace Chief Minister Usman Buzdar with Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi of the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid).
On Monday evening, the PMLQ abruptly announced that it was siding with Prime Minister Imran Khan to defeat the opposition’s no-confidence motion in the National Assembly. In exchange for its support, the PTI announced, it would elect Elahi the next chief minister of Punjab. However, while the PTI has announced that Buzdar has tendered his resignation, it has yet to be sent to Governor Muhammad Sarwar, who must approve it before it can take effect.
Expressing surprise over the PMLQ’s decision, Zardari—who is also the co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party—said the joint opposition would soon nominate its candidate for the chief minister of Punjab. “We will bring a change in Punjab as per our will. The PTI cannot make Pervaiz Elahi the chief minister as it does not have the numbers in the Punjab Assembly; we do,” he told a press conference convened to welcome independent MNA from Balochistan, Aslam Bhootani, to the opposition.
“At midnight, they [PMLQ] felicitated me and the next morning, they suddenly went to the other side,” he said, adding that the PMLQ was looking for “power” while the opposition was thinking about Pakistan. To a question on whether the opposition would still try to bring PMLQ back to the opposition, Zardari said it was “too late” now.
To another question, Zardari said he believed and hoped the security establishment was currently neutral.
Sufficient numbers
In his turn at the mic, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari claimed the united opposition had the numbers necessary to oust Prime Minister Imran Khan, adding that Speaker Asad Qaiser could “now” not even think of taking any unconstitutional steps. “This is Imran’s last week,” he claimed. “No matter what threat he hurls, the united opposition will succeed. The ministers and bureaucracy should realize that it is their last week too,” he added.
Bhutto-Zardari also challenged the prime minister to place before the public the “letter” that the premier had claimed provided evidence that the no-trust motion was a foreign-funded conspiracy against his government. “It is Imran Khan’s habit to make false allegations,” he said.
Referring to the presidential reference pending before the Supreme Court over the quantum of punishment for defectors in Parliament, the PPP chairman said he hoped the courts would not let the government rig the upcoming vote on the no-confidence resolution against the prime minister.
Welcoming Bhootani to the opposition, Bhutto-Zardari said that the lawmakers of Balochistan had realized that their issues could only be resolved by the opposition parties. He noted that in addition to Bhootani, the Balochistan Awami Party and Shahzain Bugti of the Jamhoori Watan Party had also announced their support for the opposition’s no-confidence resolution.