Ijaz kakakhel Islamabad
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhary Fawad Hussain Wednesday said that all eyes are now on the meeting between Prime Minister Imran Khan and Russian President Vladimir Putin as the visit has gained great significance in view of the current international scenario.
Talking to journalists after a meeting of PTI’s Central Executive Committee in Islamabad, Fawad said that PM Imran, in an interview with Russian television, had made it clear that Pakistan will not become part of any bloc. During the meeting, the prime minister had taken the party’s CEC meeting into confidence about his Russia visit, he said, adding that the committee expressed complete confidence in the leadership of PM Imran Khan.
Responding to a question, he said, “Three of our MNAs including a minority and a woman member have reported that they have been offered money to give a vote in support of no-confidence motion against PM Imran Khan.” Regretting this posture of the opposition parties, the information minister said they will not allow anybody to revive the culture of horse-trading in the country. He maintained that opposition parties have no courage to bring a no-confidence motion against the government. The minister, however, neither disclosed the identities of the MNAs who were approached to switch loyalties nor said anything about who the offer was from.
Pakistan Democratic Movement president Maulana Fazlur Rehman had announced last week that the opposition alliance had decided to move a no-confidence motion against the prime minister and would contact the PTI government’s allies in the centre for this purpose.
The minister said that the three if PTI legislators, including a minority member and a female lawmaker, had been offered money to favour the no-trust motion, adding that “this is such a shameful instance.” He dared the opposition to table the no-trust motion within 24 hours as he dubbed Zardari and Shehbaz the “two big traders”, accusing them of meeting to discuss the “contributions they would make for horse-trading”.
He alleged that the PML-N and the PPP were striving to revive the corrupt practice of horse-trading, “however, we are keeping a close eye on that and we will not let that happen.” Fawad Chaudhry said the two leaders had submitted certificates to courts claiming they were ill “but they are holding meetings publicly in visibly good health.”
