Vote of confidence: Oppn to boycott today’s assembly session
The 11-party opposition allinace, Pakistan Democratic Movement, has announced that no opposition member would attend the National Assembly session scheduled for Saturday, in which Prime Minister Imran Khan will seek a vote of confidence.
The announcement comes a day after the prime minister delivered an address to the nation, explaining why he was seeking a vote of confidence in the wake of the Senate elections in which the opposition managed to stage an upset, reports Dawn News.
Addressing a Press conference in Islamabad, PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that Yousuf Raza Gilani’s victory was itself a no-confidence motion against the premier.
He claimed that President Arif Alvi in his summary to summon Saturday’s session had essentially stated that Prime Minister Imran had “lost the trust of the majority” and he, therefore, needed to seek a vote of confidence.
“So when the president talks about losing trust to call the session of the National Assembly, then this further strengthens the stance of the opposition,” he said.
After the opposition’s boycott of the session, Rehman said, “this session will have no political importance” and the PTI government “will not be considered the representative government of this nation”.
Fazlur Rehman, who is also chairman of Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam party, said the tone in which Prime Minister Khan addressed the nation on Thursday night “reflected his defeat”.
He said according to the prime minister, bidding had taken place in the Senate elections and asked the premier to name the parliamentarians accused of having sold their votes. “He is saying his own PTI members as sellouts,” he added.
The maulana said that Khan’s vote of confidence on Saturday will also include the votes of 18 government MNAs who allegedly voted in favour of the opposition in the Senate polls, adding that “without this, it is not possible for him to secure the vote.”
“When some people had sold their loyalties in the no-confidence vote against (Senate Chairman Sadiq) Sanjrani in 2019, the same Imran Khan had termed it the voice of their conscience,” he said. “Today, why does he equate his own members not voting [for the PTI] to being sold?”
Responding to prime minister’s remarks that he would bring out the people against the opposition if he lost the vote of confidence, the PDM chief said: “Whom will you bring the people out against? Against the PDM? Why? On what grounds?
“People will not ask you about this, people will ask you why you destroyed the economy [and] why you weakened different institutions by sacking workers,” Fazl added. —