ISLAMABAD, June 22: A joint consultative meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q and its allies pledged unconditional support to the National Assembly Speaker to counter the no-confidence motion tabled against him by the opposition.

The meeting reviewed in detail the situation arising out of the recent move by the opposition and its impact on the country’s overall political scenario.

Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said though the opposition had a democratic right to make such a move, its timings reflected “sinister motives” on its part and this would have a negative bearing on the political climate, particularly with regard to the future of democracy in the country.

The prime minister expressed the confidence that the Pakistan Muslim League-Q and its allies had enough strength in the lower house of the parliament to defeat the “no-trust move”.

During the meeting, the leaders of various allied parties pledged full support to the Speaker.

They said the nascent democracy would not be able to absorb further shocks and interest of all political parties lay in the smooth functioning of the parliamentary democratic system.

They said difference of opinion was the essence of democracy but it ought not be made a point of prestige. Otherwise, they feared, the system was likely to be derailed.

The leaders recalled that during the successive previous regimes constitutional amendments were literally bulldozed and pushed down the throat of the parliamentarians by the then custodians of the House.

However, surprisingly, a “no-trust move” was not tabled by these champions of democracy against them, they said.

Besides the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, the meeting was attended by the parliamentary leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party-Patriot, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the PPP-Sherpao and the Grand National Alliance.—APP