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Tuesday, 20 December, 2022 I 26 Jamadi Awwal, 1444 I Rs 15.00 | Vol XIII No 171 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
OppOsitiOn submits nO trust mOtiOn against Cm Elahi in punjab assEmbly g
Punjab Governor asks CM Elahi to seek vote of confidence LAHORE
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Staff RepoRt
AyS ahead of the PTI’s planned dissolution of provincial assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a delegation of PPP and PML-N lawmakers submitted on Monday night a noconfidence motion against Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi in the Punjab Assembly (PA). Opposition lawmakers, including PPP Parliamentary Leader Hassan Murtaza, PML-N’s Khawaja Imran Nazir, Chief Whip of PML-N Tahir Khalil Sindhu, and others reached the Punjab Assembly Secretariat and submitted the notrust motion at 9:35pm. It was formally received by Punjab Assembly Secretary Inayat Hussain Lak. The document submitted by the opposition, a copy of which is available with Pakistan Today, stated that “members of the PPP and the PML-N of the provincial assembly have lost confidence in CM Pervaiz Elahi’s ability to lead the house as per the Constitution”. It added that Elahi had “massacred democratic traditions” and thus he had lost the confidence of the majority of members of the house. The no-trust move was moved under “Article 136 of the Constitution read with Rule 23 of the Rules of Procedure Provincial Assembly of Punjab (PAP), 1997”. According to Article 136, a resolution for a vote of no-confidence moved by not less than twenty per cent of the total mem-
bership of the provincial assembly may be passed against the chief minister by the provincial assembly. A resolution referred to in clause (1) shall not be voted upon before the expiration of three days, or later than seven days, from the day on which such resolution is moved in the Provincial Assembly. If the resolution referred to in clause (1) is passed by a majority of the total membership of the Provincial Assembly, the Chief Minister shall cease to hold office. Separately, a no-trust motion has also been submitted against PA Speaker Sibtain Khan under Article 53 of the Constitution. PML-N’s Nazir, in a TV interview after the submission, said the noconfidence motion was submitted against the chief minister, PA speaker, and deputy speaker. He said there were signatures
of “around 150 members” and there were more members coming from outside Lahore. “A constitutional and legal action has been undertaken after consultation from constitutional experts and we are completely confident,” Nazir added. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, in an interview with journalist Shahzeb Khanzada on Geo News, said that if a chief minister wanted to dissolve an assembly then it was necessary for him to have its confidence. “That is why […] today, the Punjab governor sent a piece of advice to the chief minister to take a confidence vote before dissolving the assembly […], and then the no-confidence motion was submitted. Hence, the chief minister can’t dissolve the assembly without taking a vote of no-confidence,“ the
interior minister added. Immediately after the resolution was submitted, Punjab Governor Baligh ur Rehman directed Elahi to seek a vote of confidence from the assembly on December 21. In an order, shared by the PML-N on Twitter, the governor said that the chief minister has “lost the confidence of his party president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and members of his own party belonging to the PML-Q”. “It is widely known that over the last few weeks serious differences of opinion erupted between two coalition parties of the ruling alliance in the Punjab Assembly i.e. PTI and PML-Q regarding political strategies, dissolution of the assembly, development schemes, and transfers of public officials,” it stated. The order highlighted that the aforementioned differences became evident after the appointment of a PTI member — namely Khayal Ahmed — to the provincial assembly without the knowledge of PTI Chairman Imran Khan. It added that the most recent evidence of “cracks between the ruling alliance” was the resignation of a cabinet member after he engaged in a “verbal spat” with Elahi. “The chief minister has stated in a TV programme on Dec 4 that he is not going to dissolve the provincial assembly until March 2023, a position which is completely at odds with the PTI’s public opinion on the issue.”
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BANNU CTD HOSTAGE SITUATION
No breakthrough as ‘talks with TTP underway in Afghanistan’ BANNU Staff RepoRt
There was no breakthrough in the hostage situation in the Counter-Terrorism Department’s (CTD) compound in Bannu as talks between Pakistani officials and the leadership of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were reportedly underway in Afghanistan, confirmed Mohammad Ali Saif, spokesperson of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government late on Monday. According to a foreign news agency, Pakistani authorities opened talks to try to resolve a stand-off with the TTP who were holding several security personnel hostage after seizing control of a counter-terrorism facility in the country’s northwest a day earlier. “We are in negotiations with the central leaders of the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan,” said Saif. The spokesperson warned of strict action if the armed men do not surrender. Internet services have been suspended in Bannu and the roads leading to and from the Bannu Cantonment have been blocked. Miranshah Road and Jumma Khan Road are closed for all sorts of movements. The sources have claimed that the terrorists are demanding a safe air route to Afghanistan. In a bid to defuse tension at Pak-Afghan Chaman border, a 16-member jirga comprising eminent clerics, local elders and traders left for Afghanistan to negotiate with the TTP’s leadership on Monday. Talking to journalists ahead of leaving the country, Mufti Muhammad Qasim said they are carrying a “message of peace and friendship” with them. “We received positive response from the Afghan authorities,” he added. The cleric added that loss of the common man is not in anyone’s interest. Following the contacts and negotiations, the ongoing tension would be defused, hoped Malik Abdul Khaliq Achakzai. A day earlier, four police personnel were martyred and as many others wounded in an overnight terrorist attack on the Bargai Police Station of Lakki Marwat area. Terrorists launched an armed assault on the police station from two sides.
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