Islamabad, March 19 : The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government led by Imran Khan has ruled out the possibility of imposing governor’s rule in Sindh. However, Khan said it will petition the Supreme Court to seek a ruling on whether PTI defectors could lose their seats ahead of a no-confidence vote against him in the National Assembly, Dawn reported on Saturday. Khan has also called a meeting of the PTI Political Committee during the day to review the fast-changing political situation in the country and contemplate on the issue of dissidents from his own party. He has presided over a meeting where Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed presented a summary regarding the imposition of governor’s rule in Sindh, when the trust vote in the National Assembly was also discussed. However, Sheikh Rashid later told reporters that “no decision has so far been taken on the summary” regarding governor’s rule. Even Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi made it clear that the federal government had no intention of imposing governor’s rule in Sindh. Several PTI lawmakers withdrew support to the government on Thursday, thus strengthening opposition claims of having won the support of members of the ruling coalition and stoking more uncertainty over whether Imran Khan could hang on to power. Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the government had decided to file a presidential reference under Article 186 of the Constitution in the Supreme Court for the interpretation of Article 63A. Chaudhry also confirmed that show-cause notices had been issued to dissident lawmakers, who had been given one week to return to the party while also seeking an apology from them. Khan’s key allies have told the media the Pakistani Prime Minister is in danger of losing his coalition partners in the House vote. “He is in 100 per cent danger,” head of one of the four parties in Khan’s ruling coalition, Pervaiz Elahi told television broadcaster HUM News. “They all have got a tilt toward opposition,” the veteran politician had declared in an interview earlier in the week, referring to the four parties, which have a total of 20 seats in the lower house of parliament. Without them, Khan’s party, which has 155 seats in the lower house, would fall short of the 172 needed to retain power. Pakistan’s opposition seeks to throw Khan out after rallying thousands of people on a campaign that he has mismanaged the economy, governance and foreign policy. The joint opposition consists of major parties such as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) – of former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto – and has a strength of nearly 163 in the lower house. ACL ING
