Not ready to be sacrificial goat under dictatorship: Pak PM

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today said he would not seek a vote of confidence from parliament against the backdrop of an escalating row with the judiciary and military as his government did not want any clash between state institutions.

"I have no need for a vote of confidence," Gilani told a special session of the National Assembly or lower house of parliament that was convened by the ruling coalition after the Supreme Court warned action could be taken against the President and premier for not reopening high-profile graft cases.

In a speech that was very critical of the opposition, Gilani said his government did not need the opposition's support to tackle the crisis caused by the apex court’s order to reopen graft cases that were scrapped under the National Reconciliation Ordinance, a graft amnesty issued by the previous military regime.

The NRO was scrapped by the apex court in 2009.

"The Leader of Opposition may think we have come here to be saved from the NRO by the opposition. We have not come here for the NRO, we have not come to get an endorsement from the House for NRO," Gilani said.

"Nor do we need support from you to be saved from the military and we have not come for a clash of institutions. We have also not come to be 'shaheeds' (martyrs) as the opposition believes," he said.