Islamabad, March 18: Several disgruntled lawmakers from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), who had been ‘in hiding’ at the Sindh House, surfaced on Thursday giving credence to opposition claims that they have won over members of the ruling coalition, Dawn reported on Friday. This comes a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan and some of his cabinet ministers accused the opposition of indulging in horse-trading ahead of the crucial vote on the no confidence resolution.
Nearly a dozen PTI members emerged at the Sindh House and explained their grievances against the ruling Pakistan Tahreek-i-Insaf to the media persons present there, while refuting claims of the government that they had been offered money to support the oppositions no-confidence motion in the National Assembly against Prime Minister Imran Khan. Sindh House is now under the protection of Special Security Unit (SSU) personnel of the Sindh police. The MNAs who directly or indirectly criticised the government’s policies included Raja Riaz and Nawab Sher Waseer from Faisalabad, Noor Alam Khan from Peshawar, minority representative Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, Nuzhat Pathan and parliamentary secretary for education Wajiha Qamar. Raja Riaz, who is part of the Jahangir Tareen group, claimed that there were 24 PTI members staying at Sindh House, while Noor Alam Khan put the number of dissidents over 24. Most of these individuals, who joined the PTI before the 2018 elections, said that they were staying at the Sindh House of their own will and will be voting in the no confidence motion according to their “conscience.”. They further said that they decided to shift here after observing some suspicious activities and receiving threats while lodging at Parliament Lodges. UNI
