ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) will not push for a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani because to demand such a vote would exacerbate instability, the party said on Tuesday.
The PML-N believes a vote would “damage the whole country,” party chairman Raja Zafarul Haq told Reuters.
The PML-N’s decision means Gilani’s fragile Pakistan People’s Party-led government could survive the country’s latest political crisis after the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) withdrew on Sunday, depriving the government of a majority.
With little support, the government will face an even tougher struggle to strengthen the economy, ease poverty and tackle militancy.
PML-N spokesman Ahsan Iqbal said “at the moment, a no-confidence vote does not look like a possibility”.
“It’s a matter of concern for the government which has turned into a minority (in parliament) as to how they will effectively run its affairs,” he said.
The upheaval coincides with increased US pressure on Pakistan to hunt down militant groups in the North Waziristan tribal region to help it turn around the faltering war in Afghanistan.