Nawaz likely to seek vote of confidence

• ‘PM to stay and fight if wins confidence, step down if he fails’

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has summoned the Pakistan Muslim League-N’s parliamentary party to meet on Friday to obtain a vote of confidence from his party’s elected members.

Talking to Pakistan Today, several party lawmakers confirmed the meeting scheduled to be held on Friday. They said that the parliamentary party meeting would swear allegiance to the party leader in the difficult times.

The meeting is being held in wake of the report of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) about the alleged financial irregularities against the prime minister and his family members. MNA Hamid Hameed, a lawmaker from Sargodha, told Pakistan Today that the prime minister had convened the parliamentary party meeting on Friday.

“It has been decided that the prime minister would seek a vote of confidence from the party meeting. Later, he may seek vote of confidence from the National Assembly. If he fails to win vote of confidence, he would step down. However, if he wins vote of confidence, he would fight,” he said.

Asked whether or not the prime minister would be able to win vote of confidence, he said that not a single lawmaker would ditch Nawaz Sharif. “We will stay with Nawaz Sharif as no one else is clean too if there are questions against the prime minister. Nawaz Sharif is the person we can argue with and we will stand by him too,” he maintained.

Source told Pakistan Today that the decision to convene the party’s parliamentary meeting had already been taken but it was immediately decided to convene in wake of the rumours emerging of possible defections within the party’s ranks. “Previously, it had been decided to summon the party’s parliamentary meeting over the weekend. However, the decision to meet on Friday was taken in view of the claims made by some rejected party leaders about possible formation of a rebel group within the parliamentary party,” the source said.

Asked how the parliamentary party meeting would help purge dissent within the party ranks, the source said it would help identify the possible dissenters within the party ranks. “Those absent from the party meeting would be identified as potential rebels. Once identified, they would be contacted for explanations. If they failed to satisfy the party leadership, they could be fixed,” it said.

Asked how the absentee lawmakers could be fixed, the ruling party leader said that their development projects could be used to tame them. Asked about the agenda of the meeting, the source said there was no agenda shared for the time being. “But a possible move would be to seek a vote of confidence for the prime minister,” the source added.

Asked whether the prime minister would offer resignation during the party’s meeting, the source said that the party had decided that the prime minister would not resign at any cost. “The prime minister would stay come what may. Those who are preparing to become the next prime minister within the party or in other parties are doomed and out,” the ruling party lawmaker concluded.