ISLAMABAD: The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan said Thursday that Senators would submit a no-confidence motion against Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan if he did not issue an apology over presenting incorrect information about the number of deaths in terrorism related incidents during a meeting of the Senate on October 30, DawnNews reported.

A day earlier, the interior minister said that courts had sentenced 13,223 people to death since 2002, but only 501 of them had been executed. He said 10,910 death penalties had been announced in Lahore, 1,301 in Peshawar, 541 in Karachi, 449 in Quetta and 22 in Gilgit-Baltistan. Of the 501 executions, 415 were carried out in Lahore, 64 in Peshawar, 15 in Quetta and seven in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The opposition had staged two walkouts when Nisar refused to withdraw his reply to a question about the number of deaths in terrorism-related incidents which the opposition believed was based on incorrect information.

Speaking to media representatives outside the Parliament House today, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Aitzaz Ahsan said Senators would submit a no-confidence motion in the Senate against Nisar if the interior minister did not issue an apology over the withdrawal of his reply.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Senate today was temporarily adjourned after PPP Senator Islamuddin Shaikh pointed out the lack of quorum. The Senate session was eventually adjourned until 10 am on Friday, November 1 by Chairman Senate Nayyer Hussain Bukhari owing to the continuing lack of quorum, even after it restarted.

Separately, a consultative meeting of the opposition parties, namely PPP, Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid (PML-Q) and Awami National Party (ANP), was held in the Senate and the opposition members decided to boycott the Senate until Monday over what they had earlier called the interior minister’s 'improper and unparliamentary behaviour'.

While alluding to the Interior Minister, PPP leader Raza Rabbani said today that one person wanted to hijack the entire Assembly and the government. He said the matter could be resolved but the government wanted to free its hands of issues of national importance.