Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has dodged his opposition’s attempt to oust him after the no-confidence vote was blocked in Parliament by the deputy speaker, calling it “unconstitutional,” according to Aljazeera.
Driving the news: Khan advised the country’s president, Arif-ur-Rehman Alvi, to dissolve the Parliament while calling on the nation to prepare for a fresh election within 90 days.
- “I ask people to prepare for the next elections. Thank God, a conspiracy to topple the government has failed,” Khan said in his address, per NBC News.
Details: The National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Khan Suri, who belongs to Khan’s ruling party, said there was “foreign interference” behind attempts to unseat the prime minister. He also said that Khan still has the power to dissolve the assembly.
- In order to put pressure on the nation’s supreme court, opposition lawmakers have refused to leave the National Assembly building.
What an expert said: “Imran Khan is betting on retaining his support base and the opposition splintering. The opposition parties are only united by the desire to topple Imran Khan’s government and are unlikely to be able to retain a united front,” said associate professor Iqbal Singh Sevea, the director of the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, per CNBC News.
What to watch for: A hearing at the Supreme Court began Monday and will continue on Tuesday. The court’s decision can deem Khan’s moves unlawful, rendering his tactics to stay in power useless, according to The New York Times.
- Experts are also speculating whether Khan will get members of his opposition arrested for being a part of an American conspiracy.
- The instability created by the political events may favor the Pakistani military’s interest, allowing it direct power.
The bigger picture: Since Pakistan’s independence in 1947, none of the prime ministers have finished a full term in the office. Most of them were driven out after being accused of corruption, others had deteriorating relationships with the military, as has happened with Khan.
The military has, in recent months, wanted to remove the current prime minister because of a lack of action in the economic area as well as his stance on the country’s relationship with the U.S., per The Strategist.