ISLAMABAD, June 20: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan here on Friday consulted his close aides over combined opposition’s filing of no-trust motion against the speaker of the National Assembly, Chaudhry Amir Hussain.

Informed sources told Dawn that during the meeting, which was also attended by Minister for Labour and Manpower Abdusstar Lalika and Petroleum Minister Chaudhry Noraiz Shakoor, a strategy was discussed to effectively foil the no-confidence motion against the speaker.

The prime minister said those PML-Q MNAs who were currently out of the country, should be asked to reach Islamabad at all costs on June 28 when the National Assembly session will be convened to debate the issue of no-confidence.

When contacted, Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis said that the prime minister was relaxed and not at all worried about the no-trust motion against the speaker.

“We believe this no-trust motion will turn out to be an embarrassment for the Opposition,” he hoped, alleging that the Opposition parties were adopting undemocratic and unparliamentary means to dislodge the Speaker.

The ruling of the Speaker, he pointed out, was demanded by MNA leader Liaquat Baloch and the Speaker was bound to announce his verdict regarding the Legal Framework Order (LFO). “The prime minister and his party now want to know what wrong was done by the Speaker if he just fulfilled his duty by giving a ruling on any particular issue?” Mr Lalika said.

The minister for labour referred to Thursday’s meeting of MMA’s two lawmakers Maulana Sheerani and Haji Gul Muhammad Dummer with the prime minister and said: “Watch out who is going to be a loser.”

He said a number of opposition MMAs would support the Speaker at the time of secret voting and that the Opposition should stop resorting to unparliamentary means. The ruling of the Speaker, he said, could not be challenged.

He was asked whether a number of disgruntled ruling party MNAs would support the Speaker in a secret voting. “There is no such thing and you should keep in mind the passage of the budget in the House where all the PML-Q MNAs were present,” he said.

In reply to a question, he said the purpose of moving a no-confidence motion against the Speaker was to embarrass President Pervez Musharraf who was currently on a four-nation tour.

“But the ruling party and its coalition partners are firmly standing behind the president. Therefore, it does not make any difference if the opposition does anything against President Musharraf,” Mr Lalika said adding that the minority cannot dictate its terms to majority.