PM Imran Khan will ask for vote of confidence

[El Sidd]

(7)

The Prime Minister shall hold office during the pleasure of the President, but the President shall not exercise his powers under this clause unless he is satisfied that the Prime Minister does not command the confidence of the majority of the members of the National Assembly, in which case he shall summon the National Assembly and require the Prime Minister to obtain a vote of confidence from the Assembly.

 

[LeGenD]

Good decision by PM Imran Khan in view of rigged Senate elections and sold out ECP. No sane PM would want to put up with this rubbish.

 

[Super Falcon]

This is why i think we need new conatitution there are many flaws in xurrent system

 

[Asian.Century]

If PM Imran Khan fails to get vote of confidence, cabinet will be dismissed: Sheikh Rasheed

• Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed says PM Imran to continue to work till election of new prime minister if he doesn't get a vote of confidence.
• All institutions remained neutral in Senate polls, says Rasheed.
• He agrees with Zardari's statement that fewer votes were bought than estimated.

ISLAMABAD: If Prime Minister Imran Khan is unable to get a vote of confidence on Saturday, the cabinet will be dismissed, says Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed.

The interior minister said if the cabinet is dismissed due to a lack of vote of confidence, the premier will continue to work till the election of the next prime minister.

He also spoke about the Senate elections held earlier this week, saying that all institutions remained neutral in the Senate polls.

Rasheed agreed with former president Asif Ali Zardari's statement that less votes were bought than his estimate.

Zardari had said a day earlier that Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) Senate candidate Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani secured fewer votes than expected as he was supposed to get at least 20 more votes.

Read more: Zardari thinks Gilani should have won by 20 votes in Senate polls

Appearing on Geo News programme Capital Talk, the PPP co-chairperson opined that Gilani's victory should have been by more than five votes. In fact, Gilani should have polled 20 more votes on way to his victory, he said.

Meanwhile, Rasheed said the PDM will go to Punjab before the long march and expressed the hope that Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi will stand with Punjab Chief Minister Usman Bazdar.

After the defeat of the government's Senate candidate, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Prime Minister Imran Khan has decided to take a vote of confidence from the National Assembly for which a meeting will be convened on March 6.

 

[Xone]

Counting the cost of compromise
Fahd HusainPublished March 6, 2021 - Updated about 5 hours ago
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The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Islamabad.
ONE month ago, the PTI could do no wrong. A month later, it can do no right. What happened?
As Prime Minister Imran Khan takes his vote of confidence today, he might want to take a moment and meditate on why he has ended up in a position where he has to prove his majority. The vote may provide symbolic relief but the ailment is more than skin deep. Here are five reasons why the PTI has frittered away its political, perceptional and populist capital in the last four weeks.
1 Open ballot issue: The PTI tried to pull a fast one by couching political expediency inside a moralistic cover. It failed. The party’s sudden focus on wanting an open ballot Senate election erupted on the political landscape without warning, and more significantly, without context. Had party elders war-gamed the reaction to their position, they would have very easily reached the following conclusions:

The PTI tried to couch political expediency inside a moralistic cover.

(i) PTI was a beneficiary of the secret ballot in the Sadiq Sanjrani vote of no-confidence, and this would dilute the efficacy of its current demand. It did. (ii) Their vehement insistence on an open ballot would elicit an obvious question: ‘why now?’ and they should have had a convincing answer. They did not. (iii) If the party did not provide sufficient logic to counter the above question, it would struggle to take a high moral position. It did. As a result, the party’s shoddy triple attempt to ram its position down the electorate’s throat — the reference to the Supreme Court, the failed attempt for a constitutional amendment, and the quasi-amateur ordinance — all these combined to produce a result directly opposite of what the PTI wanted. It takes a unique talent to take a morally strong issue and reduce it to a politically shredded and optically compromised one.
2 Senate tickets issue: The party leadership decided in its wisdom to create a parliamentary board that would itself decide — without asking for any applications — who should get the ticket. The result was a mess reminiscent of the PTI’s attempt at holding elections for its party offices some years ago. The board had to cut a sorry figure when the public outcry forced it to take tickets back from various people already awarded and giving it to others. But nothing damaged the party more than the award of a ticket to a rich man from Balochistan named Abdul Qadir. Protests erupted, the PTI took the ticket away from him, he stood as an independent, PTI members supported him, he won, and perhaps he may now join PTI. Or maybe he won’t. It matters not. What matters is that the PTI’s moralistic political narrative — oh, we give tickets to only clean people whereas the opposition sells theirs to the highest bidder — got a massive hit. This collided head on with its mega narrative about open ballots and tied up its argument in convoluted knots. It takes a unique talent to take a politically strong issue and reduce it to a morally shredded and optically compromised one.
3 Daska issue: What happened in the Daska NA-75 election has done more to debase the dividends of PTI’s moral narrative than anything in recent times. The PTI’s politics of the last many years, especially after the 2013 elections, was based on the sanctity of the vote; the same sanctity that, according to the PTI, was trampled by PML-N in the 2013 polls thereby depriving PTI of its true electoral numbers. For a Pakistani electorate fatigued by the burden of electoral manipulations over the decades, this was as fresh as narratives come. PTI would, Pakistanis thought, banish rigging from the system forever and make us a normal democratic society. Then Daska slammed into this fantasy like a runaway train. The blatant and crude way in which the Daska election was manipulated under the direct watch of PTI’s Punjab government, was unimaginable. For a party speaking about transparency in elections, including the Senate ones, and pegging its politics on this narrative, Daska was a debacle that perforated the lofty narrative beyond recognition. It takes a unique talent to take a morally strong issue and reduce it to an optically shredded and politically compromised one.
4 Hafeez Sheikh issue: The dominos had begun to fall, but no one was willing to see it. By the time the Gilani videos emerged, PTI’s moral capital was already depleting. The sharp contrast that the Gilani video should have provided to the PTI’s narrative of transparency, got dulled because of PTI’s own contradictions over the money factor (Qadir from Balochistan issue), and over the transparency factor (Daska issue). Hafeez Sheikh’s stunning loss was not just a defeat for the PTI on one seat, or an outcome that required the prime minister to prove his majority — no, it was something much more serious, for it halted, or perhaps overturned, the perception from a month ago that PTI had cut PDM down to size and was for now the only real game in town. It takes a unique talent to take a parliamentary strong issue and reduce it to a politically shredded and optically compromised one.
5 Election Commission issue: PTI took a morally strong, contextually less strong and legally weak issue to the Supreme Court on the mode of elections. Once defeated, it hoisted the same issue on the ECP. Every blow, every reversal and every defeat forced PTI to try and dig itself out of its troubles. The unnecessary collision with the ECP — based on the original flawed logic of the reference in the Supreme Court — is now reducing PTI to a party that is venting its anger and frustration at a constitutional body whose basic logic has been endorsed by the highest court in the land. This is diluting the gravitas a ruling party must exude in order to manage a complex representative system held together by institutional equilibrium. It takes a unique talent to take a contextually strong issue and reduce it to a politically shredded and legally compromised one.
Can a vote of confidence bandage all these five self-inflicted wounds?
The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Islamabad.
Twitter: @fahdhusain
Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2021

Counting the cost of compromise

The PTI tried to couch political expediency inside a moralistic cover.

www.dawn.com

 

[Mav3rick]

Oh right, you just supported the people who were blindly zealous to AH. That makes it perfectly fine. I'm sure you used to have a lot of fun sitting at those multiple hour long party lectures listening to AH ramble on.

I was actually quite averse to AH. I blame him entirely for what happened to a political force which was created with so much promise. But today, I 100% oppose MQM! I would prefer and vote for JI over MQM.

Share those reasons and tell me why it's OK for you to have blindly supported what was essentially a criminal gang with an after-hours political club while it's not OK for anyone to support Imran Khan or PTI.

If we get into this argument, it will be like hijacking the Thread. Let's just that that we disagree on what MQM was. I can, however, assure you that a week of operation against PTI by establishment, the like of which MQM faced multiple times for years, would have you and yours running underground. They made MQM, they molded it and then they destroyed it.

But most importantly, MQM was never in a position to cause the kind of financial loss that PTI has caused and hence those who support PTI, in my book, are not aligned with the interests of the country and of the average Pakistani.

So you wanted even longer strikes and dharnas which would have probably hurt Karachi even more in the long run. This guy definitely loves Karachi, his fellow Karachiites and the rest of Pakistan more than the PTI supporters here!

A predominant portion of Karachi supported the calls for strikes, just like occupied J&K's Kashmiris call for strikes. However, those were meaningless to the ruling elite and hence, in my opinion, an indefinite strike would have done the job which random strikes never could. And ofcourse, in the later years, strike calls were just plain stupid and criminal.

 

[Hiptullha]

I was actually quite averse to AH. I blame him entirely for what happened to a political force which was created with so much promise.

You're only saying this in hindsight now that AH has sided with the same Sindhi extremists MQM would complain about decades ago. Prior to that, people like you were willing to look past the crime and terror.

the like of which MQM faced multiple times for years, would have you and yours running underground. They made MQM, they molded it and then they destroyed it.

Yes, but the difference is PTI wasn't running its own paramilitary operation so they probably wouldn't have to deal with that kind of opposition in the fist place. The MQM might have been unfairly targeted compared to what other parties with gang and criminal links like ANP and PPP have gone through. You can't argue the same for PTI and complain that we've gone unscathed. The worst thing Imran Khan has done is organize non-violent jalsas.

A predominant portion of Karachi supported the calls for strikes

A lot of people supported PTI's dharna too. Now I know what PMLN was doing with the economy during its rule, I would have even supported PTI violently taking over if it meant preventing the debt crisis we had to deal with right after they left the government.

 

[GumNaam]

the bad was mister hafeez himself...I'm tellin' ya man, even when he was the pee pee pee finance minister, he pushed imf's agenda...military pressured zardari into removing him cuz he kept pestering for secret agreements between Pakistan and China at behest of the imf...but since the ishaq dar happened, PTI had to temporarily tolerate him just to keep the imf working with us until the economy stabilized...recall that the u.s. and the imf actually made official statements during the trump days asking Pakistan to disclose these agreements on investments and loans. even the supreme court ruled that he can't be given such senior ministries until he is elected, you think that just happened for no reason and without pressure from the military establishment on the supreme court to keep hafeez's nose out of things? Well the economy is stabilizing now but the imf keeps pushing for those secret documents and for him to become an elected member since the supreme court blocked him.

this is deep...very VERY deep. If Imran Khan and the establishment REALLY wanted him to win, they would've simply given him one of those uncontested seats from suba e punjab but they didn't.

I am convinced that Imran Khan along with the establishment took the entire opposition for a hay ride, got ride of hafeez and made zardari pay for it.

there was visible opposition within the PTI to mister hafeez...he was never a friend of Pakistan and every knows it. We all know his performance during the pee pee pee days when he was the finance minister, damn near ran a muck. don't forget that he was the imf (read america's) agent in Pakistan...tried to convince zardari to roll back a bunch of weapons programs and cpec stuff.

what did I tell you guys...Imran Khan was just tolerating the imf economic hitman hafeez, he's out now!

 

[VCheng]

Changing faces will not mean much if the policies remain the same. Please tell us what the new team will do anything differently. That is the key here.

 

[GumNaam]

Changing faces will not mean much if the policies remain the same. Please tell us what the new team will do anything differently. That is the key here.

you don't get it...Hammad Azhar is not a parachuter from the imf, hafeez was a parachuter, doesn't give two turds from modi's @ss about what is in Pakistan's interests and is purely there to push imf terms...I can't answer what the policies will be but we can be sure that Hammad Azhar would far more receptive to input from the government parliamentarians as opposed to hafeez who would completely ignore what others had to say and would sometimes give them the shut up call as if he was a viceroy of the imf.

itna tau maano na kay aap kay is bhai ki prediction bilkul sahi thi that hafeez will be forced to go bye bye!

 

[Jungibaaz]

Changing faces will not mean much if the policies remain the same. Please tell us what the new team will do anything differently. That is the key here.

They can't, and won't do much different. The PM is in a tough spot, keep your allies in key positions or they might abandon you to your peril, these are tumultuous political times and turncoats turn on a dime. And conditions are tough too, whether their underlying economic conditions, or IMF loan conditions, they can be worked around a little bit at best, but not changed. Still, I sincerely hope IK makes it to 2023, and becomes the first PM in our history to complete a full term.

Imran has gone to the IMF, and stabilized the current account, he also hasn't employed any stupid short-termist policies. But the structural reforms we needed are still not there. We are still stuck in the same cycle of low savings-investment rate, current account weakness, hard to service debt, and the choice of starvation or imports we can't afford. It's a vicious cycle, and I don't think it's ending any time soon.

 

[VCheng]

They can't, and won't do much different. The PM is in a tough spot, keep your allies in key positions or they might abandon you to your peril, these are tumultuous political times and turncoats turn on a dime. And conditions are tough too, whether their underlying economic conditions, or IMF loan conditions, they can be worked around a little bit at best, but not changed. Still, I sincerely hope IK makes it to 2023, and becomes the first PM in our history to complete a full term.

Imran has gone to the IMF, and stabilized the current account, he also hasn't employed any stupid short-termist policies. But the structural reforms we needed are still not there. We are still stuck in the same cycle of low savings-investment rate, current account weakness, hard to service debt, and the choice of starvation or imports we can't afford. It's a vicious cycle, and I don't think it's ending any time soon.

Exactly. What was Einstein's definition of insanity? I wonder if it applies here.

However, as I have always advocated, we need to give PMIK the rest of his term before judging him on the results, whatever they are in reality and not just claims.

 

[Indus Pakistan]

Changing faces will not mean much if the policies remain the same. Please tell us what the new team will do anything differently. That is the key here.

Funny you say that. This is exactly what Iranians say about USA. Faces change but Iran continues to get kicked whilst Israel keeps being lauded.

 

[newb3e]

you don't get it...Hammad Azhar is not a parachuter from the imf, hafeez was a parachuter, doesn't give two turds from modi's @ss about what is in Pakistan's interests and is purely there to push imf terms...I can't answer what the policies will be but we can be sure that Hammad Azhar would far more receptive to input from the government parliamentarians as opposed to hafeez who would completely ignore what others had to say and would sometimes give them the shut up call as if he was a viceroy of the imf.

itna tau maano na kay aap kay is bhai ki prediction bilkul sahi thi that hafeez will be forced to go bye bye!

wasnt hafeez an establishment pick?

 

[Jungibaaz]

Exactly. What was Einstein's definition of insanity? I wonder if it applies here.

However, as I have always advocated, we need to give PMIK the rest of his term before judging him on the results, whatever they are in reality and not just claims.

Well, Imran is actually shifting policy at the moment, he's showing remarkable flexibility. On Hafeez Sheikh, I guess that it's largely an attempt to course correct a little. Be less pliant on IMF conditions, negotiate more in the way of pro-growth policies rather than draconian restraint that the IMF always sues for, no matter who they're bailing out. It's obvious the kind of pressure the government is under, we can argue till we're blue in the face that exports are picking up, current account and PKR are stabilized, but the ordinary voter will only really perceive weak growth, inflation, and unemployment. So this is one such change in direction, and I think we could be in a position that allows some flexibility on this front, the government is still faced with multiple financial difficulties.

The other big change is coming in foreign policy. I know people give props to Imran government's handling of foreign policy. I would give them a mixed review. Some initiatives have been positive, and Imran's diplomacy with the Trump administration via Jared and the Saudis, and by personal contact was good. Handling of India relations has been good too. However, on the Saudis and the GCC, the performance has been dismal and woeful. Before the second half of 2019, we had good relations with the Saudis and GCC, just as ever. They were happily bailing us out, connecting us to US administrations, and keeping our interests within a reasonable regard.

Come the second half of 2019, and Imran started to make all sorts of naive and poorly though-out moves in his personal capacity as PM, the embarrassment they caused was only a minor issue, the damage they did to ties with the GCC was palpable and very material. Imran was one moment flying to Washington via MBS' own private jet, the next moment he's been snubbed. He first made some well meaning, but ultimately silly comments on wanting Pakistan to mediate between Iran and Saudi, so that they can restore ties. Saudi did not ask for any of this, nor do they suffer us to dissuade them of their own initiatives as a regional power.

Imagine for example how Sheikh Hasina would be received in India if she unilaterally declared that she was urging the Modi government to de-escalate with Pakistan and willing to mediate. On the other end, Iran has a very low estimation of our state and our establishment, they see us as unreliable partners who cave to US pressure to isolate Iran. We don't have the clout or the deep pockets of China, or even India, in sticking up for Iran a little bit. Who are we to mediate at this stage, with poor relations with Iran, no international clout, reliant on Saudi and US loans?? Then comes the whole KL conference and the wish of IK to form a new alliance with Malaysia and Turkey, again it was not well received by the Saudis, and ultimately led to embarrassment.

Anyway, the policy shit is coming again, IK will be going back to the Saudis, and we'll be toeing the line again soon. It turns out Mahathir has left the building, the Turks are nice, but they are no replacement for the GCC, just as I said at the time of these debacles.