While opposition legislators are impatiently waiting for the day they intend to vote for the motion of no-confidence, the PTI government is left with few options. It wanted the Speaker to disqualify any PTI lawmaker who turned up to vote despite being debarred by the PM. This is no more possible after clarification by the Election Commission of Pakistan that the authority to disqualify any legislator on the charge of defection rests only with the ECP after a procedure that can take several days after the voting. Instead of issuing political statements calling upon the ECP to stop the alleged horse trading in Sindh House, the PM needs to initiate the procedure by declaring in writing which lawmakers have defected, which he hasn’t done yet.
With two huge and motivated pro-PTI and pro-Opposition crowds expected to gather outside Parliament on the voting day, use of force by the PTI to stop legislators from entering Parliament House could lead to large scale rioting. After the IHC judgment the onus would be on Interior Minister Sh Rashid Ahmed and the administration if things go bad on the no-confidence day, so the government will have to ensure that all voters get a safe passage. The best way is for both the PTI and the opposition to cancel the gatherings. The government which was the first to issue the call to its workers must be the first to announce its cancellation.
The government cannot dissolve the National Assembly after the presentation of the vote of no-confidence. Any attempt to enforce a state of emergency is likely to be struck down by the Supreme Court as there are no compelling circumstances to justify it. The government hopes to restart talks with its rebellious allies who technically speaking are still a part of the government. It has however announced that it would not provide them any ministries The move would be too late and there is little possibility of the government yielding to the allies’ demands that it has consistently rejected as preposterous while making fun of their political standing.
The government is left with only two honourable options now. Get the bit between the teeth and face the no-confidence move, or resign to allow the holding of fresh elections.
