KARACHI - Sindh government seems to be in trouble after opposition leader Sheharyar Maher has called for moving a no-confidence motion in the provincial assembly with the support of other opposition parties.
The Sindh Assembly comprises of 168 seats including 29 seats reserved for women and nine for religious minorities. In the house of 168, Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarian enjoys the simple majority of 92 members and is leading the provincial government without any coalition partners.
The opposition parties have 77 seats in the house with MQM which recently quitted a coalition with PPP in Sindh government, it has 51 members followed by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional with 11, PML-Nawaz- 09, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf 04 and National People’s Party 02.
Talking to The Nation, opposition leader in Sindh Assembly Shaheryar Maher said that major opposition parties in Sindh including MQM had expressed no confidence over the incumbent government and they were in contact with them to remove this incompetent government that failed to save lives and property of people in Tharparkar and fire incidents in Karachi respectively.
He said that even the PPP members were not satisfied with their government’s performance and around 15 to 20 PPP lawmakers had assured him to vote in favour of no-confidence motion.
He however, said that around 10 to 12 members had assured him complete support in any case while others say that they could not turn against their leadership openly and could only vote for the motion if it was carried out through secret balloting.  Maher said that it will take at least one to two months to bring it on the floor of the house.
“Time is needed for consensus among opposition parties over the issue,” he said adding that he hoped that it would be done soon.
Maher said that after media reports of former president Musharraf’s involvement in conspiring against Sindh government, political parties specially PML-N have become more cautious as they do not want to be a part of any conspiracy involving former president.
“Our party will discuss the issue with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and will try to get support from him over it,” he said.
Meanwhile, feeling the heat, former president and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari have tasked Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah to win back disgruntled elements in PPP.
He asked Shah to look for elements not satisfied with the government. He also directed him to find out reasons over reservations within the party and remove them immediately.
Asif Ali Zardari who had termed former military ruler and president Pervez Musharraf as ‘billa’ had accused him of destabilising the Sindh government through horse trading.
His accusations came out after Pir Pagaro with PPPP President Amin Fahim met at the former military ruler’s house.
However, Fahim rejected any move to detach himself from party and said that he would not leave.
Meanwhile, MQM leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan had said that his party was not contacted over any motion.
“We expressed no confidence over the performance of the provincial government but nowadays we are concentrating on anti-terrorism policy being drafted in Islamabad,” he said adding that they would decide on no-confidence motion after consultations with the party.