ISLAMABAD, Aug 9: The combined opposition on Wednesday announced that it would submit a no-trust motion against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz with the National Assembly Secretariat on Aug 23 after compilation of a charge-sheet against the government.
Briefing reporters after a meeting of leaders of all the opposition parties at the Parliament House, Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim said that the ARD would also take part in the public meeting being organised by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal at Minar-i-Pakistan in Lahore on Aug 14.
“We have decided to move the no-confidence motion against the prime minister and the government over its inefficiency and poor performance,” said Mr Fahim while announcing the decision.
He said the opposition was united and the submission of the no-trust motion was a first step towards launching the anti-government drive.
Mr Fahim said an 11-member committee, to be headed by Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai, had been constituted to draft the motion, prepare a comprehensive charge-sheet against the government and to devise future strategy in this regard.
When asked that how many ruling party members would support the opposition’s motion, he said it would be known to every one on Aug 23.
Replying to another question, he said the issue of the president’s impeachment was not discussed at all in the meeting.
Hafiz Hussain Ahmed of the MMA said the Wednesday’s meeting was an announcement of the formation of a grand opposition alliance.
He thanked the ARD leadership for announcing its support to the MMA’s plan to hold public meetings all over the country.
He said ARD leaders would participate in the MMA’s public meetings in Lahore, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Karachi.
Replying to a question, the MMA leader said that they supported those points of the Charter of Democracy, signed by the ARD, which related to the independence of election commission and elimination of army’s role from politics.
He said that they were also with the ARD in its demand to bring the constitution to the October 12, 1999 position. He, however, said that most of the points in the Charter of Democracy were related to the post-election period and the MMA was ready to sit with the ARD leadership to discuss it.
Later, ARD secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra announced the names of the committee members, constituted to devise strategy for the no-trust motion against the government.
He said that Mehmood Khan Achakzai was the convener of the committee comprising Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Sahibzada Fazal Karim and Tehmina Daultana of the PML-N, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Abdul Mujeeb Pirzada and Nayyar Bukhari of the PPP, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed and Sahibzada Abul Khair Zubair of the MMA and Abdul Rauf Mengal of the Balochistan National Party.
