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Portrait of Pakistan's PM Khan on a supporter's t-shirt
Photo: SHAHZAIB AKBER/EPA
In the midst of the serious political crisis in Pakistan, President Arif Alvi has declared that Prime Minister Imran Khan should remain in office for the time being.
Khan should continue in office until an interim head of government is appointed, Alvi said on Twitter late Sunday evening.
On Sunday, a dispute over a vote of no confidence in Parliament against Khan triggered a political crisis in the country of around 220 million people.
The no-confidence vote initiated by the opposition and scheduled for Sunday, which Khan would probably have lost, was surprisingly not held by a parliamentary speaker.
Khan then advised the president in a video message to dissolve parliament and called for new elections.
Alvi followed a little later.
The country's Supreme Court will resume a hearing on Sunday's events on Monday afternoon (local time).
Observers believe it is possible that the court will rule that the non-confidence vote and the dissolution of parliament are unconstitutional.
Former cricketer Khan denies having acted unconstitutionally and recently described the planned vote of no confidence as a "foreign conspiracy".
According to the Reuters news agency, analysts assume that Khan has now lost the support of the military, which has traditionally been very influential in Pakistan.
The army therefore endorsed Khan's initial nationalist and conservative course after his election victory in 2018. However, this is said to have changed in the meantime.
fek/dpa/Reuters
