The raging war between the opposition and the government has become more ferocious as former president Asif Zardari has jumped in. He said the present ‘incompetent’ rulers have collapsed under their own burden and need just one push to annihilate. Responding to his rhetoric, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has predicted PDM’s defeat if it tabled a no-confidence motion, and Minister for Defense Pervaiz Khattak predicted the alliance’s collapse.
During a telephonic conversation with Punjab Secretary General Chaudhry Manzoor, former president Zardari said he had already predicted the failure of the government and added that the PDM will send them home.
He claimed that the opposition alliance was united under PDM and would use constitutional options.
The present government has ruined the economy. It must be removed, he said and expressed the fear that it could plunge the country into grave danger. Coming months are decisive for the country’s future politics. “We will not let the government use the coronavirus as excuse for its incompetence.”
Zardari said despite the global economic crisis in 2008, the PPP government raised the country’s export from $19 billion to $25 billion, doubled revenue and enhanced the salaries of government employees and pension.
SHAH MAHMOOD QURESHI: Talking to reporters after attending the Chehlum of a religious leader in Multan, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the government will defeat the PDM’s no-confidence motion.
He said Bilawal had acknowledged that the PTI government was democratically elected by suggesting tabling a no-confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He asked Bilawal to stop using the term ‘selected’ and call Imran Khan the elected prime minister.
Qureshi called the PDM an ‘unnatural’ alliance. It had collapsed, and even the JUI-F had also divided into groups.
About the Broadsheet inquiry committee, he said that the opposition would not agree on any name.
The foreign minister said that the government has nothing to do with the Broadsheet. The prime minister wanted an inquiry to make things clear.
About foreign funding case, he said the PTI has submitted the details of party’s assets and a list of 40,000 donors to the Election Commission.
He asked the PPP and the PML-N to also submit details of their donors to the ECP.
He criticised the PDM as a mob having no aim. The alliance members talked about resigning from assemblies, and then holding long march and now moving a no-confidence motion, he added.
He said the PDM would fail as everyone is watching their personal interests. The PML-N cannot mislead the masses. The government would complete its constitutional term. It will not give NRO to plunderers, he concluded.
PERVAIZ KHATTAK: Addressing a ceremony in Nowshera, Minister for Defense Pervaiz Khattak said the PDM lacked unity and it would collapse soon.
He said Maryam Nawaz, Fazal-ur-Rehman and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari were trying to destabilise the government through unconstitutional means.
He said the PTI government was capable of and fully prepared to defeat the no-confidence motion.
He said plunderers will be made accountable to public for their misdeeds.
Khattak claimed that the opposition will be defeated in Senate elections also.
