Facing a trust vote he doesn’t have the numbers for, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan may on Sunday rely on chaos inside and outside parliament to avoid an ouster from power.
While capital Islamabad has been placed on high alert ahead of the no-confidence motion brought in by a united opposition bloc, reports suggest Imran Khan and his ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party will try and not let the voting through.
Sources told News18 that Khan may try to first prevent opposition lawmakers from entering parliament and in case they do manage to get through, he may try to stop them from entering the National Assembly, the lower house of Pakistan’s parliament.
PTI lawmakers may also attempt to mire the trust vote in chaos on the floor of the National Assembly, and the speaker may be asked to pass a ruling and not consider the no-confidence motion amid disorder in the house.
The house may then be adjourned and the no-confidence motion issue could then be taken to the country’s Supreme Court for legal clarity.
Sources in the opposition told News18 that they have reached out to the administration for help in reaching parliament. “We have to wait and watch. We have requested the administration to help us reach the hall. Right now, whole of Islamabad is under control of Rangers and police,” a source said.
Imran Khan had suggested on Saturday that he might not accept a vote to oust him, a move he alleged was being orchestrated by the United States.
Opposition parties say Khan has failed to revive an economy battered by the coronavirus pandemic or fulfil promises to make his government more transparent and accountable, and have put forward a no-confidence motion due to be voted on Sunday.
“How can I accept the result when the entire process is discredited?” Khan told a select group of foreign journalists at his office. “Democracy functions on moral authority – what moral authority is left after this connivance?”
“The move to oust me is blatant interference in domestic politics by the United States,” he said, terming it an attempt at “regime change”.
Khan, who has already lost his parliamentary majority after allies quit his coalition government and joined the opposition, has also urged his supporters to take to the streets on Sunday ahead of the vote.
Hours before he spoke, the head of the army, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, had said Pakistan wanted to expand its ties with Washington. US President Joe Biden has not called Khan since taking office, but the White House has denied that it is seeking to topple him.
Bajwa Gets Backing
Amid the crisis unfolding in Pakistan, the country’s business community has issued a statement in favour of army chief Bajwa. Backing his statement that the US and European Union are Pakistan’s main trading partners, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) president Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said Pakistan’s exports to the United States are worth $6.5 billion (Rs 1.2 trillion).
Sources say the business community sees Imran Khan as being too China-centric, which hasn’t been economically beneficial.
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