No-trust vote: Zardari, Fazl discuss timeline, numbers game

ISLAMABAD: Meetings, telephonic contacts, wheeling and dealing, and discussions for the proposed no-confidence motion against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government, and the ruling alliance’s efforts to foil all such attempts intensified on Thursday.

The opposition parties finally made a major breakthrough in their behind-the-scenes negotiations and now they seem ready to launch decisive efforts to submit no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, sources told The News on Thursday.

Sources said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, former president Asif Ali Zardari, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUIF) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) President Shehbaz Sharif have completed consultations and sorted out modalities regarding the no-confidence motion against the government.

Asif Ali Zardari arrived at the residence of Maulana Fazlur Rehman where they held a long meeting after which both of them also made phone calls to Shehbaz Sharif to conclude their consultation process, sources said.

Sources said they also dilated on the draft of the no-trust motion that had been prepared by a nine-member committee comprising senior opposition members and legal experts, adding “The committee has also prepared a draft requisition for the National Assembly session having signatures of 84 members belonging to the opposition parties.”

Sources in the PMLN told this correspondent that there was some kind of deadlock over few basic issues, but finally three big-wigs — Shehbaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman — succeeded in developing consensus and ultimately paved the way for no-trust motion against the prime minister.