File photo of P.M. Sharif courtesy PID
Following Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s announcement of his party’s lawmakers exiting all assemblies until early general elections are announced, the ruling coalition at the center—comprising the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and its allied parties—has started ramping up efforts to once again secure a foothold in Punjab province, where the ruling alliance of the PTI and Pakistan Muslim League (PMLQ) has a marginal majority.
As part of these efforts, the PMLN’s parliamentary party is set to meet at the party’s provincial secretariat in Lahore’s Model Town on Monday (today) under the chairmanship of opposition leader Hamza Shehbaz to deliberate on its next steps. Currently, the opposition in the Punjab Assembly has 179 lawmakers—167 PMLN MPAs; 7 PPP; 4 independents; and one MPA of the Rah-i-Haq Party—and needs seven more votes to oust Chief Minister Parvez Elahi. However, it is unlikely to secure these votes from disgruntled members of the PTI and PMLQ, as a Supreme Court ruling bars any votes from being counted if they go against party policy.
A second option, per analysts, is for the governor to ask the chief minister to take a vote of confidence, which could see Elahi removed from office if sufficient numbers of the ruling alliance abstain from the polling. The PTI-PMLQ believe this can be averted so long as the assembly remains in session but legal experts maintain there is no constitutional bar on the governor summoning a special session at any time for a vote of confidence.
Separately, the PPP has also started efforts to help the coalition secure the government in Punjab, with reports that it is seeking signatures of its MPAs on a no-trust motion as a precautionary measure. Rumors of the PPP playing a key role have been fueled by party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari planning a visit to Lahore shortly, just as he had ahead of the vote of no-confidence against the PTI government earlier this year.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where the PTI has a significant majority, all the opposition parties have announced consultations to formulate a strategy to counter any potential move by the ruling party to dissolve the assembly. Claiming that they did not believe the PTI chairman was “serious” about his announcement, they said they would nonetheless be ready for any eventuality.
In a statement, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb derided the PTI’s decision, saying it had initiated its long march to oust the federal government but had concluded it by announcing the ouster of its own governments in Punjab and KP.
Ready to dissolve assembly
Amidst rampant speculation that Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi would play the role of spoiler in preventing the PTI from dissolving the provincial assembly, he issued a video statement maintaining he was ready to exit the government on Imran Khan’s call.
“When Imran tells me to dissolve the assemblies, I won’t even wait half a minute,” he said, adding that he “owed” the Punjab government to the PTI chief and would stand by the party in its decisions. “P.M. Shehbaz Sharif’s 27km-long [federal] government won’t even last for 27 hours” after the assembly is dissolved, he added.
The PMLQ leader went on to claim that the ruling coalition would be easily defeated in general elections, and vowed to continue benefiting the common man so long as he remained in power.
Even as efforts ramp up to avoid or expedite the dissolution of the assemblies, the PTI has yet to give a formal date for when it aims to achieve its stated goals. The PTI, per party leaders, would meet today (Monday) to deliberate on Khan’s decision and determine when and how it should proceed with existing the assemblies.