PM secures vote of confidence from NA

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif yesterday obtained vote of confidence from the floor of National Assembly with 180 votes going in his favour.

As many as 172 votes were required to secure the trust vote in the assembly of 342 members. However, the death of Ex-Minister for religious affairs Mufti Abdul Shakoor reduced the total number to 341.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto tabled the resolution seeking trust vote in the NA.

The resolution, which was passed by 180 members, stated, ““The National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan reposes its full confidence in the leadership of Mian Shehbaz Sharif, as the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”

Prime Minister Shehbaz, after securing the trust vote in the assembly, thanked Allah Almighty and 180 members for reposing trust in him.

Addressing the assembly floor, he said they did not accept the decision of three-member bench of Supreme Court, but they accepted the verdict of four judges. “If the court orders me to go home, I’m always ready but I shall keep the parliament in high esteem,” he added.

He said ex-premier Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was assassintaed, and ex-PM for PML-N Nawaz Sharif and former chief executive from PPP Yousaf Raza Gillani were disqualified. “But we are asked to hold negotiations with PTI,” he added.

The PM said they were politicians and they neither had a gun nor a stick adding that they could only talk.

He said Pakistan was prospering before 2018 elections and blamed the PTI government for economic crisis. “The entire world is aware how the RTS (Result Transmission System) was compromised in 2018 and election results were manipulated,” he added.