ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to form an inquiry commission to probe the alleged foreign conspiracy behind the opposition-moved no-confidence resolution against PM Imran Khan.

Information Minister Fawad Chau­dhry, who has now been given the ad­ditional charge of the Ministry of Law and Justice, told Dawn on Saturday that he had issued directives for the formation of an inquiry commission to investigate the “foreign conspiracy” behind efforts to dislodge the current setup, stating that the final decision to form the commission would be made by the federal cabinet.

He had been given the additional charge of the law ministry after Farogh Naseem submitted his resignation to the premier. Mean­while, talking to the media on Saturday, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said early elections were the only solution to end the present crisis and take the country forward.

Mr Ahmed termed the next 24 hours crucial for the country’s politics which, according to him, was changing every second and after every hour.

He warned that the PTI dissidents who had allegedly sold out their conscience would not be able to face people in their constituencies.

“The opposition is stuck. Imran Khan has gained stardom from this fiasco. We [the PTI government] have flaws too. But I can say for sure that people don’t even want to see their [opposition] faces,” he said.

Mr Ahmed suggested three options to counter the no-confidence move of the opposition. “First and foremost, the establishment should intervene and call for early elections immediately either after Ramazan or Haj,” he said.

The next option, the minister added, was that the three main parties — PML-N, PPP, and JUI-F — should be banned and an inquiry initiated against them as they brought “foreign-funded no-confidence motion”.

As a third option, he advised the PTI members to resign from all assemblies.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2022