Amid looming no-confidence motion, cracks surface within Pakistan's ruling coalition

Categories: NEIGHBOUR COUNTRIES

                        Amid the looming no-confidence motion, cracks have begun surfacing in Pakistan's ruling coalition led by Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with ministers alleging attempts of blackmail by coalition partners, media reports said on Sunday.Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Saturday alleged that the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) was "blackmailing" the government in return for support during the Opposition`s no-trust move, The Dawn reported.

                      "I stand like a rock with Imran Khan," said the interior minister in a press briefing. "I am not responsible for anyone else. I am not like those people with five (seats in the National Assembly) who are blackmailing (the government)," he further said in a veiled attack on PML-Q, the report said.In response to Rashid's attack, Federal Minister for Water Resources Chaudhry Moonis Elahi of PML-Q tweeted, "I respect Sheikh Sahib @ShkhRasheed but he is forgetting that he used to take money from the elder leaders of this party (PML-Q) in his student life.

                    "The PML-Q has now acquired a central role in the ongoing political drama despite having only five Members of the National Assembly (MNAs).It seems that the three other allies -- the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) -- are waiting for each other to make a decision, the report further said.Given the party position in the National Assembly, if any two of the four allies of PTI make a decision to quit the ruling coalition, Prime Minister Imran Khan will lose the majority in the 342-member House.