No-Confidence Motion: Joint Opposition warns of sit-in if NA session not called till Monday

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Joint Opposition on Saturday warned of a sit-in if National Assembly (NA) session for voting on No-Confidence Motion was not called till Monday while Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has threatened not to allow the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting if Speaker Asad Qaiser does not convene the session day after tomorrow.

The OIC meeting will be held in Islamabad between March 22 to March 24.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other leaders of the opposition addressed a joint news conference in Islamabad on Saturday.

Joint Opposition called the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers who had attacked the Sindh House yesterday (March 18, 2022) ‘rioters’.

Bilawal said that it was the opposition parties’ desire that the conference was held as planned. “But it appears that the government does not want peace in the country during the event,” he added.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the opposition’s victory was Pakistan’s victory.

“Now when Imran Khan Niazi is sensing defeat, he has started calling his opponents names,” he said, and added, “A few years back, his men had attacked the parliament, while yesterday (Friday) by storming the Sindh House they attacked the federation.” 

Addressing a joint press briefing, Shehbaz Sharif has said he seconds Bilawal’s statement about the sit-in and blocking the OIC meeting if NA Speaker will not convene the No-Confidence session till Monday.

Shehbaz Sharif said the incident of Sindh House was in fact an attack on Pakistan. He asked National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser not to become a ‘tool’ in the hands of Prime Minister Imran Khan. “You should perform your duties as a custodian of the House,” he asserted.

Shehbaz said that even the allies of the PTI government had flatly refused to support it against the no-trust motion submitted by the opposition in the National Assembly. 

He further said who else could be as reliable as Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), who had rejected the ruling party’s claims about horse-trading by saying that there was no sale or purchase of MNAs prior to voting on the no-trust motion. 

He told the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Islamabad in clear and categorical terms not to act upon the orders of the ‘selected’ prime minister. “And if he does so, the law will take its course,” he warned.

Speaking on the occasion, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said he totally agreed with what Shehbaz Sharif had said on the subject. “We will take the ‘illegitimate’ rulers to the task because we are on the right side,” he claimed.

Fazl said he was surprised when he heard ‘selected’ premier sometimes said that every MNA was free to vote according to his or her conscience and then on other occasions he shouted abuses at them; call them ‘donkeys’ and ‘lotas’.

He claimed that the opposition had already won the battle against the government.