Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif secures trust vote from Nat’l Assembly

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday, secured a vote of confidence, with 180 members expressing “full confidence” in his ability to rule from the National Assembly, Dawn reported. The surprising turn of events happened days after Marriyum Aurangzeb, the minister of information, fiercely denied rumours that the premier had chosen to ask Parliament for a vote of confidence. “The National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan reposes its full confidence in the leadership of Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, as the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” the resolution for the trust vote moved by Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari stated, as per Dawn. Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, the NA Speaker, then said that 180 members of the House had stood up in support of the resolution. According to the NA speaker, had he been present at today’s session, the premier would have received 181 votes in favour of him. After the motion was approved, Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister, addressed the House. He expressed gratitude to the legislators for their trust in him and promised to never let them down. He called the 2018 elections “fraud elections” and said that the results were rigged. He added that the votes will not be counted and that the elections had been rigged in various ways. “And the [former chief justice of Pakistan] Saqib Nisar ruled that the votes will not be recounted,” he stated. Shehbaz Sharif also bemoaned the lack of an investigation into the rigging claims to date in the National Assembly and requested an investigation. The premier added, in reference to a Supreme Court decision that prevented the government from enforcing a bill that would have reduced the CJP’s authority after it was passed: “It is not possible that Parliament frames a law and the judiciary issues a stay order on it even before it is enforced,” according to Dawn.