No-trust motion threat brings CM to KP Assembly

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan turned up at the provincial assembly on Monday after a long time in a bid to win the trust of his party lawmakers after the combined opposition parties threatened to present a no-confidence motion against him.

The chief minister, also the leader of the House in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, presided over parliamentary party meeting of his party MPAs, ministers, advisers and special assistants before the assembly session and then remained in the House for more than two hours.

Though the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) enjoys an absolute majority in the 146-member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, the combined opposition has threatened to table a no-trust motion against Chief Minister Mahmood Khan after the success of the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan in the National Assembly.

According to the information provided by Provincial Assembly Secretariat, the chief minister had attended the provincial assembly session seven times in its three and a half years parliamentary history.

Like the leader of the House (chief minister), the provincial ministers, advisers and special assistants take little interest in the provincial assembly business but on Monday almost all the cabinet members turned up at the provincial assembly and remained in the House till the time chief minister remained present there.

A provincial minister requesting anonymity told this scribe that the presence of the chief minister in the House and presiding over the parliamentary party meeting was aimed at giving the expression that all the ruling party lawmakers were united under him.

“It is good that the opposition parties have hinted at moving no-trust motion against the chief minister as he (Mahmood Khan) has now realized the importance of PTI MPAs,” the minister, who belongs to southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said.

He added that even Prime Minister Imran Khan had ignored his party lawmakers and allies for the last three and half years.

The minister felt that the chief minister and prime minister used to be very proud in the past but had changed their attitudes now in wake of no-trust motion threats.

However, a PTI MPA, who also attended parliamentary party meeting, told The News that the chief minister enjoyed the support of a majority in the provincial assembly and he had no fear of losing the trust of his party lawmakers.

He said the parliamentary party meeting also discussed arrangements and preparations for the upcoming local government elections to be held in 18 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on March 31.

In the 146-member House, the PTI has 95 MPAs with one lawmaker from Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid while two independent MPAs support the PTI government.

After parting ways with the ruling PTI, the Balochistan Awami Party, having four members in the provincial assembly, has decided to sit on the opposition benches in the KP Assembly that had added to the strength of combined opposition which is now 49 members in the provincial assembly.

Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl has 16 members, followed by Awami National Party with 12 MPAs while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has seven lawmakers and Pakistan People Party and Jamaat-e-Islami have 6 and 3 legislators each in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. One independent MPA from North Waziristan Mir Kalam Wazir sits on opposition benches.

However, PPP MPA Ahmad Kundi, was optimistic that the no-trust motion would not only succeed against Prime Minister Imran Khan in the National Assembly but the opposition benches in KP Assembly would also bring an in-

House change through constitutional means and the no-trust motion was the best option.

“Many lawmakers from the ruling party were disappointed with the chief minister and will certainly vote against him when the no-trust motion is moved against him,” the PPP MPA claimed.

A parliamentary reporter, who has covered the provincial assembly session for the last 20 years, said that prolonged adjournment of the KP Assembly session indicated that the ruling party wanted to avoid any move against the chief minister, speaker or deputy speaker in the near future.

The assembly session was adjourned till May 10.

Earlier, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly passed an amendment Bill, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Regularization of Services in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) that would pave the way for those tehsildars, naib tehsildars and assistant sub-inspectors in the Police Department who had qualified the written and verbal tests from Public Service Commission some four years back but due to certain ambiguity in the existing law, they were not appointed against their posts.

Provincial Minister for Labour, Culture and Human Rights Shaukat Yusufzai, who presented the bill, informed the House that after the passage of the bill, the Public Service Commission would now issue appointment letters to selected tehsildars, naib tehsildars and ASIs for the merged districts.

The assembly also passed another bill, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Control of Narcotics Substance 2022 under which the semi-synthetic compound and methamphetamine and substance commonly known ‘ice’ would be considered as narcotics and its consumption, sale and supply would be punishable under the law.