ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said he will not resign at any cost and claimed to have a "surprise" up his sleeve for the opposition, even as at least three allies of the ruling coalition have indicated to vote against his government during a no-trust motion which would come up for discussion in Parliament later this month.
"I will not resign under any circumstance. I will play till the last ball and I will surprise them (opposition) a day before as they are still under pressure," Prime Minister Khan said, without revealing further details.
Talking to reporters here, he said the Opposition has laid all of their cards, but the no-confidence motion against him would not be successful.
"My trump card is that I have not laid any of my cards yet," he said confidently.
"No one should be under the false impression that I will sit at home. I will not resign, and why should I? Should I resign due to the pressure from thieves?" he said while referring to the opposition leaders' no-trust vote against him.
Around 100 lawmakers from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) submitted the no-confidence motion before the National Assembly Secretariat on March 8, alleging that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government led by Prime Minister Khan was responsible for the economic crisis and the spiralling inflation in the country.
On Sunday, the National Assembly Secretariat issued a notification, paving the way for holding the key session on Friday.
Khan also said it was wrong to consistently attack and criticise the army as a powerful military was crucial for Pakistan.
"Had the army not been here, the country would have split into three parts."
"The army should not be criticised for politicking," he said.
The prime minister also said his statement on neutrality was taken in the "wrong context".
"I said that in the context of preventing evil and asking people to do good."
Khan said he has good relations with the military to date.
The powerful army, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 73 plus years of existence, has hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign policy.
Earlier this month, the powerful army distanced itself from the brewing political situation in the country, saying it has nothing to do with politics.
Meanwhile, at least three allies, including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), the Pakistan Muslims League-Quaid (PML-Q) and the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) with their 17 members have indicated to join the Opposition, Geo News reported.
Citing sources, it said that the MQM-P, the PML-Q and the BAP have decided to part ways ahead of the no-trust motion against Prime Minister Khan and an announcement would be made on March 25.
"They (MQM-P) will announce that they are with us in a day or two. After meeting the MQM-P leadership, I am completely satisfied that the no-confidence motion will be successful," the head of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Maulana Fazlur Rehman, told the media.
Khan, 69, is heading a coalition government and he can be removed if some of the partners decide to switch sides.
In the 342-member National Assembly, the Opposition needs 172 votes to remove Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician.
The PTI has 155 members in the House and needs at least 172 lawmakers on its side to remain in the government.
The party has the support of 23 members belonging to at least six political parties.
The allies are not the only worry for Khan as he faced a revolt from within the PTI after about two dozen lawmakers recently announced to part ways and vote against him.
Though the government has been claiming that it has settled issues with the allies as well as the dissidents, Khan is not out of the woods as yet.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid on Wednesday said that voting on the no-trust motion against Khan would be held before the end of next week.
The National Assembly session summoned on March 25 would be adjourned after offering fateha' (prayer) for a lawmaker who died some weeks ago, he told reporters outside the Prime Minister's House here.
"As per tradition, the session will be adjourned after prayer for the welfare of the departed soul. But the speaker can fix any day between March 30 and April 1 for voting on the no-confidence motion," Rashid said.
The minister announced that a planned rally by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on March 27 here will decide who enjoys the real support of the masses.
"If they (Opposition) are confident of its success, so are we," he said.
On Monday, the Khan government filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking clarification on a constitutional point over disqualification of dissident lawmakers who have threatened to vote against him during the no-trust motion.
Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan submitted the move, also called a presidential reference, about interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution in the wake of nearly two dozen lawmakers of the ruling party threatening to vote in favour of the opposition's no-trust motion.
The article says that anyone voting against the directive of the party leader on key issues like no-trust move or money bill will be disqualified.
The law is silent on the duration of disqualification, but Prime Minister Khan has threatened life-time disqualification for the dissidents.
A two-judge bench, comprising Pakistan Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Munib Akhtar, announced to form a larger five-member bench and adjourned the hearing till March 24.
Khan's party is trying to seek a ruling that an erring member's vote should not be counted, so that vote of its dissident lawmakers in the favour of the no-trust move should not add to the total number of votes against the Prime Minister.
Imran Khan had deliberately delayed the extension of Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa's tenure in 2019 - to taint the process in "controversy", Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif claimed on Wednesday.
He also said that while his party the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) always respected the military, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) led by Prime Minister Khan was behind a social media campaign targeting the armed forces, Dawn News reported.
Sharif's comments came at a time when Prime Minister Khan is facing his toughest political test since assuming office in 2018 as a no-confidence motion has been introduced by the opposition parties against his government.
The National Assembly will convene on Friday to take up the no-trust motion against Khan.
Sharif, who is the president of PML-N and younger brother of three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, recalled that when Prime Minister Khan tried to extend the army chief's tenure in 2019, the notification had to be re-drafted thrice.
While Sharif admitted he had no solid proof to back up his claims, it was his considered opinion that Khan had intentionally tried to make the process of extension "controversial', it said.
"The matter eventually went to the Supreme Court" in the past, army chiefs have been awarded extensions in service" all they had to do was copy-paste [from the summary of the previous document]. No, this was all done as a deception, it was a fraud perpetrated by Imran Khan Niazi. He wanted to delay it, make a controversy out of it," Shehbaz told Dawn News.
The powerful army, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 73 plus years of existence, has hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign policy.
Earlier this month, the powerful army distanced itself from the brewing political situation in the country, saying it has nothing to do with politics.
In a separate interview to SAMAA TV last week, the younger Sharif had said that he has always enjoyed good relations with every Army chief of the country as he served as a bridge between Rawalpindi (Army headquarter) and Islamabad (seat of the political government).
In response to a question about the appointment of the next army chief when the term of the incumbent expires in November, or giving an extension to the current chief Gen Bajwa, Sharif had said: "It is a premature question" and will be considered when the time comes in the national interest.
In the Dawn News interview, Sharif said free and fair elections were the first rung of the ladder to prosperity, adding that all institutions should operate within their respective jurisdiction.
"A consultative process is different from interference," he remarked.
Separately, while addressing a press conference on Tuesday Sharif forcefully refuted the allegations that his party was behind an ongoing social media campaign against the Army.
Instead, he accused the ruling PTI of maligning the armed forces, saying video clips featuring Khan and his party members speaking against the establishment were available on YouTube.
Accompanied with senior party leaders at the news conference, the PML-N president said a video clip of a PTI lawmaker had recently surfaced where she could be heard "spewing venom" against the Pakistani Army.
"Nawaz Sharif never talked like this," he said of his older brother who is in the UK receiving treatment for a heart condition.
Nawaz had served less than 12 months of a seven-year jail term when he got official permit to go to the UK on medical grounds.
Sharif claimed General Bajwa had, on several occasions during their interactions, categorically stated that Nawaz Sharif as the prime minister had always respected him.
He also quoted the Army chief as saying that whenever he had asked the ex-premier to do something for the Army or provide funds, he always helped.
Talking about the corruption allegations against the Sharif family, the opposition leader hailed the apology made by Broadsheet chief Kaveh Moussavi.
Broadsheet, an assets recovery firm contracted by the Pakistan government to trace looted funds of the state, earlier in the week apologised to Nawaz Sharif in public and withdrew allegations of corruption against him.
Sharif said it had not only vindicated Nawaz Sharif and his family, but also dealt a "resounding slap on the face of PM Imran Khan and his politically-inspired witch-hunt in the name of accountability."