Pak PM Imran Khan Faces Revolt From Own Party Ahead of No-Confidence Vote

The dissenting lawmakers rejected allegations of accepting money from the Opposition to withdraw their support to the prime minister. Image used for representative purposes.

(Photo: PTI / Altered by The Quint)

Around two dozen lawmakers of Pakistan's ruling party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), revolted against Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday, 17 March, ahead of a no-confidence motion against him.

The rebels spoke to a number of media outlets from the Sindh House in Karachi, where they have taken refuge. The dissenters said that they had exited the PTI and withdrawn support to PM Khan, The Express Tribune reported.

PTI member Raja Riaz stated that two dozen members of the ruling party were holed up at the hotel as they were afraid that the government could take steps against them.

One of the rebels, Ramesh Kumar, said that 33 members of the National Assembly of Pakistan had resigned from the ruling PTI, and demanded that PM Khan should resign from his post as well.

Noor Alam Khan, a longtime dissenter in the PTI, went to the extent of saying that the members sitting on the first three rows of the treasury benches in Pakistan's Assembly should be put on the Exit Control List, as per a report by The Express Tribune.

The dissenting lawmakers also rejected allegations of accepting money from the Opposition to withdraw their support to the prime minister.

No-Confidence Motion Against Khan

Around 100 lawmakers from Pakistan's Opposition parties had submitted a no-confidence motion against the ruling government in the National Assembly Secretariat on 8 March.

The reasons behind the motion, they said, was that the government had been unable to control inflation and solve the dire economic problems in Pakistan.

A national Assembly session is expected to be held on 21 March with regard to the motion. The vote is expected to take place on 28 March, news agency PTI reported.

(With inputs from PTI and The Express Tribune.)