Pervez Khattak accuses opposition of horse-trading

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Pervez Khattak has accused the opposition parties of horse-trading and said that they are fully prepared to face the challenges, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

While talking to journalists in the Parliament House, Pervez Khattak said that the PTI lawmaker will be disqualified after voting against Prime Minister. He added that the opposition could not take the vote of confidence from a disqualified lawmaker.

He said that the move of seeking support from the opponent MPA or MNA is horse-trading.

“I want to tell the opposition that we are not sleeping. It is not that easy to bring a no-trust move against us. No-trust move is just a drama being staged to deceive the people and we are more prepared than the opposition. No in-house change is expected and we are in contact with our members.”

Khattak said that PM Imran Khan will complete his five-year tenure and coalition partners are backing the federal government led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The minister predicted that the opposition’s no-trust move will be a failure. He added that the coalition partners are not demanding any ministry from the government. He, however, said that the government will fulfil promises with its coalition partners.

Deadlock

Earlier in the day, it was learnt that talks between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) over a no-trust move against the incumbent government have reached a deadlock.

According to sources privy to the matter, the PPP has conveyed that it wanted completion of the parliamentary year after the in-house change, contrary to PML-N, which wanted the fresh polls to be called after the no-trust move.

READ: OPPOSITION’S NO-TRUST PLAN GAINING STEAM AS SHEHBAZ MEETS ZARDARI

The PML-N, according to sources, have suggested PPP bring its candidate for prime minister if it wanted to complete the parliamentary year.

However, they said that no agreement could be reached between the two sides and JUI-F chief and head of PDM Fazlur Rehman could play a role of a bridge, making a fresh suggestion in this regard.

The sources shared that the PML-N has also rejected PPP’s proposal to bring a no-trust move at the end of PPP’s long march towards Islamabad. “Some of the PML-N leaders are wary of PPP moves, fearing that they are aimed at hurting their party’s political standing,” they said.

Moreover, it has further emerged that differences have also emerged over tabling no-trust move against Prime Minister Imran Khan, National Assembly Speaker or Chief Minister Punjab with PML-N supporting the first one while PPP backing the last two options.

Meanwhile, Fazlur Rehman is also in favour of giving PML-Q a bigger role in Punjab province.