Senior Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ahsan Iqbal has asked Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to “show numbers” to back up his suggestion of a no-confidence motion against the incumbent government, pointing out that a similar effort had previously failed.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore, the PML-N secretary-general said: “As far as the PML-N’s thinking is concerned, we think if Bilawal Bhutto [Zardari] sahab has the numbers to bring a no-confidence motion, then he should certainly show them.”
“We saw [previously] in the Senate where we had the [majority] numbers, but [despite that] the no-confidence motion was not successful, so there is only one path we should follow, and that is to pursue a decisive long march against this government.”
He said that the PPP’s suggestion of a no-confidence motion is an old one, but added that members of the 10-party Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) opposition alliance “deliberate on their suggestions and take decisions through consensus of opinion”.
Iqbal was responding to the PPP chairman’s comments on Friday, where the latter hinted at the possibility of ousting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government through a no-confidence motion, and saying that all the PDM parties would be convinced to use this option and that they would reach a consensus on the issue.
Speaking at an inauguration ceremony for the newly-established Sindh Industrial Trading Estate near Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University in Larkana, Bilawal said that the no-confidence move could be tabled against the prime minister and speaker.