Pakistan's Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali will seek a vote of confidence in the National Assembly in Islamabad on Monday.

Jamali is expected to sail through the vote after his government managed to wean away 15 elected representatives of former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party. He is expected to bag 177 votes in the 342-member house.

The defectors have already been given six key ministries, including the defence and interior ministries. 

"The government is bent on dividing our party with horse-trading and floor-crossing by applying pressure on our legislators," PPP spokesman Faratulah Babar said.

He described the defections as "casualties in the long battle to restore democracy in Pakistan."

He said such defections would take place as long as President Pervez Musharraf keeps the anti-defection law in abeyance. "The defectors' fate will be sealed the day the anti-defection law is restored."

Meanwhile, President Pervez Musharraf made a sudden visit to Karachi on Saturday night. "It is learnt that the president, besides visiting and addressing troops, will meet political leaders to muster support from different parliamentary groups in the National Assembly for the prime minister," local daily Dawn reported on Monday.

The president has already come under severe criticism from different parties for giving too much leverage to the volatile Muthahida Quami Movement in Karachi. The support of the party's 17 members is necessary for the survival of the prime minister as well as that of the pro-military provincial government in Sindh. 

He has already appointed MQM member Irshat al-Abad, who went into self-exile in London to avoid several civil and criminal cases registered against him, as governor of Sindh to get the support of the party.

The MQM, for the first time, is poised to get many ministries in Sindh government. Despite adequate numbers to win majority, Jamali has asked the chief ministers of Punjab, Sindh, and Baluchistan to stay back in Islamabad to ensure his victory.