Adviser to Prime Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan asked opposition parties to resign from the assemblies if they sincerely and seriously wanted early elections in the country.
“The opposition is demanding us to resign and go home, but the PTI-led government is all set to complete its five-year term,” he told the Narratives Media.
Bilawal Bhutto can ensure at least 25 per cent fulfillment of his number one demand of early elections even if his own party resigns from Senate, National Assembly and the Sindh Provincial Assembly, said Awan.
Throwing the gauntlet to the PPP chairman, he said that the opposition’s desire to bring an in-house change would fail as it failed in 2020 and 2021 when they tried a move against the speaker and the deputy speaker. “In the end, they came begging to us to give them a face-saving,” he said.
He said that the opposition was not in a position to mobilize 172 National Assembly members needed to pass a vote of no-confidence against the prime minister or the speaker.
The opposition’s combined strength in the National Assembly is 163, but one opposition MNA – Ali Wazir – is in jail, while another remains out of the country.
Babar said that the opposition’s claims that it managed to lure a number of the PTI MNAs were bogus. “It is just propaganda. They gave some names to the media, but the story backfired as the MNAs themselves denied those claims,” he said.
He said Pakistan needs stability and no institution or individual at an important position could possibly work to destabilize the country and become part of the “regime change conspiracy.”
Highlighting the legal aspect, he said any defector loses his membership from the National Assembly under Article 63 (A) of the Constitution. Such members won’t be able to vote in the election of the new leader of the house or the speaker, he added.
Challenging the opposition claims, he said that most of the development schemes launched by the elected representatives in their respective areas were at the point of culmination. Why would anyone quit the party, leave the development scheme just on the basis of some empty promises? It doesn’t make sense, he said.
