Pakistan: If PM loses no-confidence motion, PPP's next target will be National Assembly Speaker
Mar 13, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], March 13 : Revealing his party's plans, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Syed Khursheed Shah said that if Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is removed in the no-confidence motion, the PPP would go after the National Assembly Speaker, Pakistan media reported.
Shah said that once the premier is out of the way, the PPP would go after the speaker, "immediately followed by Punjab and then Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported on Saturday.
The PPP leader criticized the NA speaker, saying that he had failed to play his role.
Shah's remarks came at the time when Pakistan's political environment is already on fire as the government and opposition parties are pointing accusations at each other and stepping up efforts to gain the support of allies and estranged leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), following the submission of a no-confidence motion against the prime minister in the National Assembly secretariat earlier this week.
In a related development, Imran asked his supporters to gather at Islamabad's D-Chowk a day before the no-trust vote for the session, which is yet to be scheduled.
"We have made it clear [...] it is the decision of the joint opposition to hold a rally at D-Chowk on the same day. And our supporters will be 10 times more than theirs," Shah answered when he was asked about the opposition's plan to counter Imran's move.
PPP leader said that the government's allies are being approached and meetings were being held to join hands with them, Dawn reported.
Meanwhile, other key opposition leaders have accused the NA speaker of not being neutral at the time of the no-confidence move. Raising questions over neutrality, a total of 100 members of the National Assembly (MNAs) of the joint opposition have signed a no-trust move against the speaker. "We are bringing a no-trust move against him as he has lost his neutrality," they alleged.
The Opposition parties in Pakistan are jettisoning mutual hatred to oust Imran Khan as they have submitted the no-confidence motion in the National Assembly Secretariat on Tuesday.
