Opposition to move no-trust vote against Pakistan PM

ISLAMABAD, Aug 10 (Reuters) Pakistani opposition parties plan to move a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on August 23, opposition lawmakers said today.

Aziz's economic reforms have strengthened the economy, but ordinary Pakistanis complain of rising prices and unemployment.

While the opposition lacks the necessary seats to win a vote of no-confidence, the move is seen as part of a campaign to keep the government on the defensive ahead of elections due late next year.

The main opposition complaint against Aziz, a former finance minister and ex-Citibank executive, is that he was chosen by President Pervez Musharraf, who came to power in a military coup in late 1999 and controversially retains his role as army chief.

The move will be backed by an Islamist alliance, which forms the largest opposition bloc, as well as the mainstream parties of former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, who both live in exile.

''We have decided to move the no-trust motion in the National Assembly on August 23,'' Liaquat Baluch, a leader of the Islamist Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alliance, told Reuters.

''This government has lost confidence of the people on all fronts,'' said Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party.

''This whole system is planted by General Musharraf to sustain military power and yes, this no-trust is all against General Musharraf.'' The opposition groups also plan anti-government rallies in major cities. The first such rally is scheduled to be held in the eastern city of Lahore on the independence day of the country on August 14.

VOTE OF CONFIDENCE OR NO-CONFIDENCE? The government said the opposition's motion was doomed to fail.

''They will miserably fail to mobilise the required number for their motion. This motion will turn into a confidence vote in favour of the government,'' said Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani.

The government has the support of around 188 members in the 342-seat National Assembly.

Musharraf has already said that, under the constitution, he can be re-elected for a second term of office by the current assembly, before it is dissolved in late 2007.

In May, Bhutto and Sharif put aside their differences and vowed to work together by signing a ''charter of democracy'' in London. They said they would return to Pakistan together before the general election.

Musharraf's current term expires in mid-November next year, as does parliament's.

After the 1999 coup, Musharraf was regarded as a pariah in the international community until Washington embraced him as an ally in its war on terrorism following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

REUTERS SRS HT1550