Over a dozen faceless PTI hypocrites in the National Assembly who had backstabbed their party by voting against Prime Minister Imran Khan’s candidate for the general seat of Senate on Wednesday acted as his saviours on Saturday by reposing trust in him, establishing beyond doubt that the present government’s fate depends upon the behaviour of such characterless elements.  

It’s matter of great shame for a country that had come into being in the name of Islam and is supposed to be an example for other Islamic countries. 

During Wednesday’s Senate election, PTI candidate Dr Hafeez Shaikh had lost to PDM’s Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani by five votes. The PTI nominee had got 164 votes against PDM’s rival who pocketed 169 votes.

Since the 342-member National Assembly is the electoral college for the general seat, the defeat of the PTI candidate was interpreted as prime minister’s loss of confidence of the majority. The head of government should have at least 172 members’ support in the house.  

This situation necessitated for the country’s chief executive to prove his majority in the house. 

On Saturday, a total of 178 MNAs voted for the prime minister, two votes more than 176 he had polled while donning the mantle of the country’s chief executive after the 2018 general elections.  

The 10-party PDM boycotted Saturday’s session, arguing that it was a meaningless exercise after Wednesday’s session that had established that the prime minister did not have majority’s support in the house.

However, an MNA of Jamaat-i-Islami (Abdul Akbar Chitrali) was present in the house although he did not vote for the premier. His very presence in the house showed that the Jamaat was not with the PDM on this account. 

The opposition alliance’s boycott decision in the prevailing situation was certainly flawed as the election on the Islamabad seat of the Senate was only an indication of the prime minister’s standing in the house, not the formal constitutional way of removing him from the seat. 

The constitution provides a separate procedure for removing the premier through a vote of no-confidence. Also, there is a different procedure for the head of the government to prove his majority in the house (which was adopted on Saturday). 

If the Islamabad seat result is taken as a means to get rid of the prime minister, then there is no need for having articles dealing with the procedures for confidence vote or a no-trust motion. 

Despite the fact that Prime Minister Khan has shown his majority in the house, the presence of ‘hypocrtes’ in the lower house of parliament is a matter of serious concern. They are supposed to be the custodians of the Constitution and Islamic values. Fie upon such characters who are supposed to be Sadiq and Ameen but are not courageous enough to publicly disagree with the leadership and hide their identity while voting against or in favour of their party. 

Such people should be identified – no matter how difficult the exercise – and be disqualified for good. They are a stigma for parliament. 

They are untrustworthy and should be treated as such by all parties sincere to the country. 

If today they can sell their conscience to one party for whatever considerations they will do the same in future to serve the interests of some other party for a different consideration. 

PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz’s taunt that the selected prime minister was getting confidence vote from the same legislators he had said had sold themselves holds no water.  

She should also look into the morality and constitutionality of the PDM’s jubilation over the success of opposition candidates’ success on the Senate seats (whose electoral college was the ‘fake assemblies’). Also, she should let the nation know how victory in by-elections to the fake assemblies’ seats could be a matter of pride for her party or the opposition alliance.

Is it not like accepting the ‘haram’ as halal.

Likewise, is there any justification for the PDM to reverse the decision of resigning from the fake assemblies and being proud of their representation therein.  

Now the PDM leaders are due to meet on March 8 to review the situation. The future situation depends upon their decisions.