LAHORE: Contrary to her earlier stance, PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz says sending the PTI government home (either through a no-confidence motion or any other way) is the need of the hour.

Ms Nawaz had earlier said the Imran Khan government should complete its tenure because “this way it would get itself fully exposed”.

On Thursday, Maryam, the daughter of deposed premier Nawaz Sharif, said that seeing the “misery of the people” at the hands of this government had changed her mind and now she wanted that the government was sent home forthwith.

“Earlier, I thought the PTI government should complete its (five-year) term but after seeing what it has done with the people, ‘any method’ (no-confidence motion or else) should be adopted to send it home without any delay,” Ms Nawaz said in a reply to a question whether the opposition was bringing a no-confidence motion against the government.

She was speaking to journalists after inquiring after party leader Bilal Yasin at his residence here on Thursday. MPA Yasin was injured on Dec 31 in a gun attack allegedly by his rival group on Mohni Road. Police have arrested the two sharpshooters and are making efforts to bring back the prime suspect from the UAE.

Maryam Nawaz said the government’s apathy towards incidents such as the one that took place in Murree was for all to see. “The families were dying in Murree and they were sleeping at Banigala and the chief minister’s houses. No one reached to the help the people trapped in snow in Murree for 36 hours,” she lamented.

“This government has made the lives of the people miserable. The incompetence of this government has been exposed several times and sending it home is the need of the hour,” she said.

In a tweet, Ms Nawaz said the way the PTI was treating Imran Khan now was a clear reversal of fortunes. It’s just the beginning, she said, as the prime minister compromised and committed frauds right from early days.

Earlier, the PML-N leadership would mock the other opposition party, PPP, on its suggestion to table a no-confidence motion in Punjab and the Centre, citing a lack of required numbers. The PPP had suggested to the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) parties to table a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Usman Buzdar in the hope that the PML-Q led by Chaudhry Parvez Elahi would also support the move, if the party was given the option of forming the government in Punjab.

The PPP had also proposed that they could move a no-confidence motion against National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser as a test case, before moving such a motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

PDM president Maulana Fazlur Rehman has convened a meeting of the heads of component parties of the alliance on Jan 25 to discuss options to dismantle the PTI government. Among the options are tabling of a no-confidence motion against the government.

“We are considering options which can be used to immediately send this government packing and the support of the PTI allies will be sought,” Fazl had said on Wednesday.

Earlier, PML-N senior vice president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had told Dawn that the party would consider moving a no-confidence motion against the PTI government at the Centre or in Punjab only when it was clear that “the constitution is supreme in Pakistan and the system is being run without ‘interference’ as per democratic principles and norms.”

“To test the waters, I ask them (those in favour of no confidence) to table a no-trust motion against Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani in the Senate where the opposition has a clear and demonstrated majority,” Mr Abbasi had said.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2022