ISLAMABAD, Aug 23: The combined opposition in the National Assembly submitted a no-trust motion against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to the speaker’s secretariat on Wednesday, annexing to it a 500-page ‘charge-sheet’ against the government.
The motion carries signatures of all 141 members of the opposition parties, which means it will need 32 more votes in a house of 342 to oust the prime minister.
The leaders of both the opposition alliances led by Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Raja Parvaiz Ashraf and Aitzaz Ahsan reached the secretariat in a procession.
Separately, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) filed a notice with the speaker seeking production order for its acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, MNA, to enable him to vote in the no-trust motion.
In a brief statement on the occasion, Qazi Hussain said: “We, the combined opposition, are submitting this no-trust motion under rule 21 of the Rules of Business along with a charge-sheet against the rule of a few generals.”
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan of PML-N played a pivotal role in removing misgivings between the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Pakistan People’s Party, expediting the finalisation of the draft by incorporating in it clauses about Islamic laws.
The MMA had taken strong exception to the PPP’s siding with the government on the women’s rights bill and Ms Benazir Bhutto’s reported willingness to cooperate with the government in its ‘good’ work.
A meeting between leaders of both the alliances was held in opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s chamber where they decided to modify the draft of the no-trust motion.
ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim and MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmed declared at a news conference later that the opposition was united on the on-one point agenda of bringing the military rule to an end and sending the armed forces back to perform their constitutional duty.
Imran Khan, Sahibzada Abul Khair Mohammed Zubair, Abdur Rauf Mengal, Tehmina Daultana, Sherry Rahman, Mehmud Khan Achakzai and other leaders were present on the occasion.
Mr Fahim said the MMA had joined hands with the ARD in its move to oust the prime minister without precondition and the two alliances were in agreement that the army had no right to rule the country and “we both will struggle for the restoration of the constitution and democracy”.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed said: “Army needs to be relieved of its additional duties and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is an imported man with no stakes in the country.
Earlier, PPP Parliamentarians’ Aitzaz Ahsan said a number of cases, including privatisation of Pakistan Steel Mills and 30 other units, stock market crash, and prime minister’s alleged patronage of certain elements, had been incorporated in the charge-sheet.
He hoped that when government members would read the document revealing corruption and irregularities, their conscience would not allow them to vote in favour of the prime minister.
Imran Khan said no-trust motion was necessary to expose a prime minister who was a ‘dummy’ in the hands of a military dictator.
Under the constitution, the government is bound to take up the no-trust motion within a week. A vote count through the division method will take place after a debate on the motion.
While the government insists on division as the proper method for dealing with the motion, the opposition has been demanding a secret ballot so that the treasury members disagreeing with official policies could vote in favour of the motion.
