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No-confidence move against Aziz fails

Nirupama Subramanian

Only 136 members voted in favour of itThe Opposition claims moral victoryThe motion was submitted on August 23 "It is a victory for democracy"

ISLAMABAD: The no-confidence motion by the Opposition in the Pakistan National Assembly against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Tuesday was defeated. Only 136 members voted in favour of it after a full day of debate dominated by the killing of the Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.

Speaker Chaudhary Amin Hussain announced the result. The ruling party and its allies have a strength of 201. Five Opposition members were not present.Even before the voting, it was clear that the Opposition would not muster the required 172 members in support of the motion, one past the half-way mark in the 342-member Assembly.

The motion was submitted on August 23, a few days before Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti's killing, and charged the Government with corruption in the privatisation of public sector companies.

But the 500-page "charge sheet" did not matter on a day when Bugti's killing and the continuing unrest in Balochistan province took the centre stage.

Mr. Aziz said the defeat of the motion was a victory for democracy.

The Opposition claimed a moral victory and said it had highlighted the actions of the Government that were taking the country on a downslide.

The combined Opposition intends to take its fight against the Government outside Parliament, and has planned a series of protests to culminate in a public rally in Lahore on September 10.

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