The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Pakistan: Prime Minister Imran Khan saves his chair and obtains early elections

2022-04-03T10:31:29.275Z


Imran Khan escaped a motion of no confidence from the opposition to overthrow him. He announces the dissolution of parliament and the calling of early elections within three months.


This dramatic turn comes as Imran Khan had lost the parliamentary majority a few days ago necessary to overcome the motion of censure tabled by the opposition, which accuses him of poor economic management and clumsiness in foreign policy.

To discover

  • LIVE - War in Ukraine: follow the development of the conflict minute by minute

But Sunday, at the opening of the session during which this motion was to be examined, the vice-president of the National Assembly, Qasim Suri, a faithful of Mr. Khan, created the surprise by announcing that he refused to submit it to a vote, judging it "

unconstitutional

".

The news was greeted with rage and amazement by opposition MPs, many of whom refused to leave the Chamber.

Read alsoPakistan: the Prime Minister addresses the nation, the debate on the motion of censure postponed

"

This date will be remembered as a dark day in the constitutional history of Pakistan

," said Shehbaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), the favorite to replace Imran Khan in the event success of the motion of no confidence.

In a speech on state television delivered minutes after saving his seat, Imran Khan denounced the "

foreign interference

" that he said was behind attempts to oust him from power and announced that he was asking the President of Pakistan to dissolve the National Assembly.

A request to which President Arif Alvi, whose functions are honorary, acceded in stride, resulting in early legislative elections within 90 days.

We will appeal to the public, hold elections and let the nation decide

,” Imran Khan said.

The former national cricketing glory party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, Pakistan Justice Movement), lost its parliamentary majority last week when an allied party announced that its seven MPs would vote with the opposition.

More than a dozen PTI deputies had also changed sides.

Imran Khan called on his supporters to demonstrate peacefully outside parliament on Saturday and hinted that he still had a card to play.

I have a plan for tomorrow, don't worry.

I will show them and I will defeat them before the congregation

,” he had promised.

Interference charges

Earlier this week he accused the United States of interfering in Pakistani affairs.

According to local media, he received a report from the Pakistani ambassador in Washington, who recorded a senior US official telling him that relations between the two countries would be better if the prime minister left office.

Washington denied.

Imran Khan on Sunday again accused the United States of wanting to "

change the regime

" in Pakistan because of its refusal to align itself with American positions on Russia and China.

"

This betrayal was unfolding before the eyes of the whole country, the traitors were sitting there planning their plot

," he said in reference to the opposition.

Read alsoIn Pakistan, the twilight of the Chinese dream of the Silk Roads

Accused by his critics of economic mismanagement - galloping inflation, weak rupee and crushing debt -, and of clumsiness in foreign policy, Imran Khan, 69, thus overcomes, at least for the moment, his most serious political crisis since his election in 2018.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-04-03

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.