The government on Saturday slammed the “divided” opposition for not having unity among their ranks and making tall claims of tabling a no-confidence motion against the prime minister in the National Assembly within the next 48 hours.

Head of the opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement, Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Wednesday claimed it had the numbers needed to bring a no-trust move against the premier and that they would submit such a motion in the next two days.

“Fazl is disappointed and his confidence level is down," said Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry during a press conference in Lahore. "We have gotten up a thirst after saying that bring no-confidence motion in next 24 hours [instead of 48 hours,”

He was accompanied by Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood and other cabinet members.

Fawad urged the PPP to march in Islamabad after the first test match between Pakistan and Australia and reiterated his offer to them to watch the match.

Fawad said the lawmakers, about whom the opposition made claims, had also submitted a privilege motion in the assembly. “The PPP party is divided into three divisions and the PML-N leaders are only trying to save their money,” he said and thanked the coalition partners for assuring them of their support in the government.

Moreover, Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood accused Leader of Opposition Shehbaz Sharif and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari of horse-trading for meeting numbers to oust the government.

On speculations pertaining to foreign support for the opposition, he said if such development were true then it should be condemned and vowed to defeat them in parliament. He added that the opposition had only regional representation against PTI’s countrywide popularity.

Peshawar blast

Both the ministers in their presser condemned Friday's Peshawar suicide blast and said the government was handling the situation.

Fawad was of the view that whenever the country hosts any cricket event such terror incidents occur and termed it a “big conspiracy” against the country.

He added that after the blast, social media users apparently from India were tagging the Australian cricketers in their tweets in an attempt to spread fear.

The information minister said he had contacted the IG Police and considerable headway had been made into the investigation. He expressed hope that the culprits would be reached in the next 48 hours or less.

“The Indian government has made its people hostage. We do not want such schemes to be used and we are ready to talk on peace and move forward,” he said.

Furthermore, Fawad dispelled information about Pakistan’s weakening relations with the West, saying that PM Imran would soon embark on a Europe tour and Pakistan believed in a balanced policy on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“For the first time, Pakistan’s foreign policy is 100 per cent being formulated inside the country and reflected the common man’s thinking,” he said.