As the opposition geared up efforts to deseat Prime Minister Imran Khan through a no-confidence motion, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) – the major opposition party – has asked its lawmakers abroad to reach Pakistan immediately and those in the country not to leave until the next few days.

The PML-N sources said that the party leadership has issued instructions to those party lawmakers who are currently abroad to immediately reach Pakistan and those who are in the country, have also been instructed not to leave the country for the coming few days.

The sources said that the instructions have been issued following consultative process among the opposition political parties have reached a critical stage with regard to moving a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Khan.

They said that the party members of the National Assembly have been asked to remain in Islamabad and members of the Punjab provincial assembly to remain in Lahore.

Asked when the no-confidence motion against the premier was expected to be moved, a senior PML-N leader said that intense consultations were underway among the top leadership of the opposition political parties both under the umbrella of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and other parliamentary parties, including Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP).

“Once we feel that the appropriate time has arrived, a decision on moving the no-confidence motion would be taken in consultations with all the opposition political parties,” he said, adding that the party president and the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Shehbaz Sharif, is in contact with all the top opposition leadership in this regard.

He said that once a decision is taken, a requisition for summoning the National Assembly session would be submitted on which the speaker National Assembly is bound by the rules to summon the session within 14 days.

Stepping up the consultative process, Shehbaz along with a party delegation also met PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in Lahore at Bilawal House to exchange views on an effective strategy to send Prime Minister Khan packing through the no-confidence motion.

Earlier on Monday, Shehbaz held a meeting with the JUI-F chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman who is also the PDM president in Islamabad and exchanged views on the ongoing efforts of the opposition parties with regard to the no-confidence motion as well as other options as part of the opposition’s anti-government drive, including the two separate protest rallies by the PDM on March 23rd and the PPP on February 27th.

This report was first published in Business Recorder on February 23, 2022.