Bring it on!: Govt tells opposition

Fawad says PDM will get ‘a surprise’ in parliament from PTI as well as from its their own members

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Friday dared the opposition leadership to table a no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, which, he believed, was, however, ‘impossible’ as any such attempt would deem to be a failure.

“I challenge the opposition parties to bring a no-confidence motion tomorrow. They will get a surprise [in the Parliament] not only from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), but also from their own members,” Fawad said in a reaction to the recent huddle of the multi-party alliance of Pakistan Democratic Movement. “Nobody has the courage to bring the no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan,” he remarked. Terming the PDM huddle a meeting of ‘Pakistan Corruption Limited Party’, he said the media talk of the opposition leaders had exposed their weak points. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, he said, was assuming that he could avoid his indictment in a money laundering case on February 18, but it would not happen.

He said Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had been trying to oust the democratically elected government since the day it came to power, but ironically he had no such guts. The opposition thought that it might make any difference with such tactics, but it was not possible for them, he added.

Meanwhile, Minister for Interior Sheikh Rashid said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was determined to strengthen the economy and overcome inflation in the country. Imran Khan was the only leader of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI), who could address the challenges of inflation, he said while talking to a private television channel. The opposition, he said was making a futile exercise against the government. The minister said the opposition party leaders could not get success in bringing a no-confidence motion against the ruling party PTI. Commenting on the long march being planned by PDM, he said these party leaders would be welcomed in the federal capital after March 23. “We don’t have any issue with the opposition’s long march or Bilawal’s march towards Islamabad,” he said.