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In an apparent attempt to take advantage of the growing rift between the ruling coalition partners, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja on Tuesday announced that his party would support any effort to remove the government, including a no-confidence motion, Dawn reported.
Addressing a press conference alongside Babar Awan and other party lawyers, Raja said he believed that the recent dispute between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was merely "friendly firing," adding that both parties were "beneficiaries of the same system." "We will not form a coalition with the PPP, but we will support it if it moves a no-confidence motion against the government. We will cast our votes in favour of the no-confidence motion because it will pave the way for the fresh elections," he said, according to Dawn. Raja stated that PTI founder Imran Khan had been imprisoned for two years because "he was not ready to compromise on principles." When asked why PTI was backing "outsiders" for the positions of opposition leaders in both houses, he said the decision had been taken by Imran Khan himself and that no member of the parliamentary party had objected. "We were facing the allegation that PTI is alone in the opposition. We want to take all opposition parties along. Both Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Nasir Abbas have been supporting us for three years and we have supported them," he said, as quoted by Dawn. A day earlier, PTI had nominated Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas as its candidates for the positions of Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Senate, respectively. On Tuesday, MNA Malik Aamir Dogar said that most legislators had already signed the nomination papers and expressed hope that those absent earlier would complete the process by Thursday so the documents could be submitted the same day. Responding to a question about PTI's resignation from the chairmanship of parliamentary standing committees, Raja said Imran Khan believed that PTI would "not legitimise the government," Dawn reported. On the arrest of PTI activist Sanam Javed, Raja clarified that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police were not involved. "While she was being picked by person in plainclothes, workers informed police officials about it and requested to intervene, but they said that they were helpless," he said. He further alleged that the 26th constitutional amendment had been passed "to control the judiciary and curb the freedom of expression." Commenting on reports suggesting that Imran Khan might be relocated, Babar Awan said, "Whenever a prisoner was shifted, first that place has to be declared as sub-jail. We will not accept if Imran Khan would be shifted to some private place." (ANI)
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