Newsman: Pakistan’s opposition is bringing a no-confidence vote to parliament to try to oust country’s Prime minister Imran Khan. But on Friday, Pakistan National Assembly’s session on a no-confidence motion against embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan was adjourned without tabling of the resolution, amid vociferous protests from opposition lawmakers. Violence is feared because of opposition parties that are planning their own mass rally to coincide with Monday’s start of debate on the no confidence motion. In anticipation of trouble, security forces have moved razor wire across major roads.
National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser said that the session was adjourned till 4pm on March 28 due to the demise of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker Khayal Zaman on February 14. As Speaker Qaiser adjourned the session, opposition leaders started protesting, requesting him to take up the motion but the speaker did not turn their microphones on and retired to his chamber. The speaker said t the decision on taking up the no-confidence motion would be taken in the next session.
The turmoil comes as Pakistan negotiates with the International Monetary Fund to release a desperately needed next tranche of a $6 billion bailout package.
Several prominent opposition members, including Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples’ Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and co-chair Asif Ali Zardari were in the Parliament House on Friday to participate in the much-anticipated session.
No Pakistani prime minister has ever been ousted by a no-confidence vote. However, opposition leaders are confident they have the simple majority needed—172 votes. Significantly, several dissident legislators from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have suggested they won’t vote against the motion. PTI coalition partners have also signaled they are leaning toward the opposition’s side. Khan will once again need to fight like a cornered tiger.
The prime minister also faces challenges from Pakistan’s most powerful political actor: the military. However, Khan had a spat last year with Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa over the process to appoint the next intelligence chief, Nadeem Anjum. Khan had a warm relationship with Anjum’s predecessor, Faiz Hameed, whom Khan would like to see become army chief when Bajwa’s term expires in November.
However, a justice this week, issued an opinion—not a final ruling—that Pakistani lawyers say would uphold a constitutional clause that could disqualify ruling party lawmakers who vote against their own prime minister in a no-confidence vote.
Political analyst in Pakistan think If Khan wins the no-confidence vote, he will emerge more emboldened than ever. If he loses, the opposition will try to cobble together a new coalition. If that fails, the PTI is unlikely to put together a new government without Khan, who has no logical successor; early elections would be likely. And the ‘ least likely’ outcome is a military takeover, despite Pakistan’s history of coups. The military would prefer that the civilians take the fall for Pakistan’s economic stress.
But it the military appears to have withdrawn support to Imran Khan’s as his own party, known as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf seems divided.
