PTI ministers ask NA speaker to convene session immediately over no-confidence motion

Islamabad: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussian on Wednesday asked National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser to convene the session after the Opposition filed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

"Imran Khan enjoys the support of the majority of parliamentarians, and the Opposition's no-confidence motion was "destined to fail", Chaudhry said while addressing a press conference alongside Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar.

The information minister claimed around 184 members of the National Assembly "strongly" support PM Imran Khan.

Hussaian said PML-N and PPP have been involved in horse-trading in the past, and now, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari are "taking this practice to new heights."

The information minister said Imran Khan was the "sole challenger of these merchants of horse-trading".

"Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari believe in politics of money and looting and stashing national wealth abroad [...] they are offering millions of rupees to buy the loyalty of our members," Chaudhry said.

Chaudhry said JUI-F and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had also gotten personal benefits from the government of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

He said Fazl has also been accepting money from foreign forces.

The information minister announced that now the government would not engage in any kind of talks with the Opposition and would "treat it like criminals."

Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar described the opposition parties’ no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan as a ‘political conspiracy’ to target the democratically elected government and a blatant ‘attack’ on the national economy, which was growing at the rate of 5.5 percent annually.

“Pakistan’s economy is on the consistent growth trajectory despite the world economic recession mainly caused by the coronavirus pandemic and Russia-Ukraine conflict,” he said while addressing a news conference here along with Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain.

He said the no-confidence motion was not only a ‘political conspiracy’ but also an ‘attack’ on national economy to shatter the confidence of investors and business community they had in the government’s business-friendly policies.

Hammad assured the business community that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government would gain more strength after turning down all the conspiracies of opposition parties.

“Our economic strategy has become a role model for the whole world after Pakistan successfully tackled the coronavirus, which collapsed the world’s major economies, and is achieving the annual growth rate of 5.5%,” he added.

Besides, he said, all economic indicators, including foreign exchange reserves, exports, large scale manufacturing and remittances, were moving in the right directors and witnessing substantial increase with each passing day.

The minister said the achievements were difficult for opposition parties to digest, and they wanted to dent the national economy and the country’s image at international level.

He said the PTI government had reduced per liter price of petrol and diesel by Rs 10 each and Rs 5 per unit of electricity despite that fact the per barrel oil price in international market had reached $130 and the increasing ‘economic tensions’ due to Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“The United States has asked its companies not to export its products to Russia and [in retaliation] Russia also announced to stop exporting its products to the Western countries. Both are the big countries and have a very big energy basket,” he elaborated the prevailing international energy scenario.

The PTI government, Hammad said, after coming into power stabilized the national economy that was badly ruined by the past regime of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Now the industrial revolution was getting momentum, exports stood at $30 billion, fuel prices decreased considerably in contrast to international market trends.

“It was not an easy task, for which tough decisions have been taken and then we are able to bring the country out of the storm, and moving forward with the full strength and force.”

He expressed confidence that the opposition’s no-confidence motion would fail as the government had more than the required number in the National Assembly.

He vowed that after failure of the move, the PTI government would get further strength as the people were standing by the prime minister realizing that Pakistan’s policies were being acknowledged internationally after decades.

“We will give the opposition a surprise, following which we will emerge as a more strong government for the remaining term. And we will come for the next term with a heavy mandate to advance our reforms programme.”

The minister said the people knew that PM Imran Khan was the leader of such a stature whom the international community listened to attentively. “Pakistanis feel proud whatever the stand has been taken by the prime minister as it matches with their aspirations regarding the country’s strategic and independent foreign policy.”