Pakistan: The Fall Of Imran Khan’s Government- OpEd

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Imran Khan came into power in 2018 with the slogan of fighting corruption, bringing reforms in police, judiciary, and in all state institutions that never seen before in the history of Pakistan. In his first speech on 26th July 2018 after wing the elections Imran Khan said accountability will start from me, I will adopt simplicity, I will make Pakistan a welfare state in the style of Madina state, I will bring the weaker sections to the top, I will improve governance and I will eliminate corruption,  I will not live in PM house. No one will be subjected to political revenge. But in three and half years of his rule reviving the economy, controlling the inflation and promise of bringing the reforms were not seen practically.

During his three year tenure opposition tried hard to oust him due to inflation, rising price and his bad governance but they can not succeed because of their on differences. On 3rd   March 2021 Imran Khan took vote of confidence from the parliament in which he succeed. 

One year later in March 2022, opposition decided to oust him through vote of no-confidence. Opposition begins attempt to oust Imran Khan, when the coalition partners of his gov’t quit and join the opposition against the gov’t. Imran Khan  says there is a foreign conspiracy to remove him adding he has a letter of proof. While addressing to the rally in Islamabad Imran Khan showed a letter in front of Public, calling it a proof of foreign conspiracy, The full content of the letter have not been made public yet. But according Imran Khan the letter contains a message purportedly received by “Asad Majeed from Donald Lu, who is a US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs”

Than opposition raised  questions and asked why they did not shared the  letter with the security committee or Parliament on next day and show it  in front of public.  According to security establishment in Pakistan they have not found any evidence of external conspiracy, intimidation of interference in Pakistan internal affairs which Imran Khan is talking about.

Imran Khan came up with foreign conspiracy idea quite late after he found that he could not survive in no-confidence vote and he will out of power, then he decided to dissolved the National Assembly. While deputy speaker of his party  stopped the voting and declared opposition lawmaker as a traitor because according to him they conspired with the US. President had dissolved the parliament with the advice of PM and announced new elections in the country. 

But according to united opposition  the reasons of fall of Imran Khan’s gov’t is  that he was continuously being  black mailed by his coalition partners and his front man’s. Most of his party MNA’s were not happy with his governance and rising inflation and they joined hands with opposition against him. opposition take the advantage of this and moved no-confidence motion against him.

There are number of others factors that really led to fall of  Khan’s party gov’t including gov’t deliberately making controversial of army institution in Pakistan while in the extension of Army chief and later in the appointment of DG ISI. The other factor is foreign Policy and also the governance of Punjab province and the appointment of CM Usman Buzdar in a province which considered the half of Pakistan. Imran khan was ready to do all unconstitutional steps. The governor of Punjab Ch Muhammad Sarwar, was sacked when he refused to take unconstitutional steps. 

 Imran Khan was fighting for his survival and building a narrative of foreign conspiracy and the whole of his narrative was based on it. He was trying to build such a narrative to become a political Martyr, while dissolving the national assembly  he plunged Pakistan into a major constitutional crisis.   He called  it a surprise, but it was not a surprise, it was a constitutional crisis which turned Pakistan in a political turmoil. Khan took all steps  just to satisfy his own ego, nothing else. 

When Imran Khan dissolved the National Assembly the supreme court of Pakistan took the “So Moto Notice” of the matter, after 4 day of hearing supreme court of Pakistan  found that PM Imran Khan move to block the no-confidence vote on 3rd April  was “contrary to the constitution and the law and had no legal effect”. The court also ruled that PM decision to dissolve parliament was invalid  and  ordered the National Assembly to reconvene and hold a no-confidence vote on 9th April 2022.

 On the 9th of April the assembly session  started under the guidance of supreme court but Khan gov’t used all delaying tactics to sabotage the no-confidence vote. He wanted vote on no-confidence motion against him could not take place. This thing created another political turmoil. The speaker of the national assembly was under pressure by Imran Khan over voting. The speaker was bound under the supreme court decision, on the other hand contempt of court was looming on him,  if he do not do that. The whole day was under this chaos, Islamabad High court, supreme court of Pakistan and  election commission of Pakistan were opened at 10:30 PM Pak time for next move if voting not take place. It was seen first time in the history of Pakistan that the supreme court, High court and Election Commission of Pakistan opened late night to deal with crisis. on the other side all state institution were on high alert to deal any kind of unrest.  At last  speaker of the national assembly Assad Qasir decide to resign from speakership, he chaired the session at 11:45 PM and gave his resignation. He gave his chair ship to the panel member Ayaz Sadiq who was from opposition. Ayaz Sadiq chaired the next session and completed the voting procedure of no-confidence motion in which 174 members given vote against the Imran khan.  Imran Khan has removed from his post through vote of no-confidence and he became the first Prime Minister of Pakistan who was removed through no-confidence vote.

 Opposition parties were being widely criticized in Khan’s speeches since the no-confidence motion was filed.  In these speeches, national issues were left behind.  Personal and political obstinacy emerged.  At the same time, his speeches became more and more criticized at the social level. It seems that Imran Khan has stepped down from the PM’s post and climbed back on the container. Imran Khan himself paved the way for opposition to  unite and bring no-confidence motion against him.  The people of Pakistan were very optimistic from Imran khan that he has the ability to brought Pakistan out of problems but their hope broken, at the end he left Pakistan into constitutional crisis. 

 The new government would be formed most likely under the opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif who is a candidate of prime minister ship from joint opposition. It is unclear that how long  new gov’t will work or when new elections will take place. There is uncertainty in the country because Imran Khan has already called for peaceful protest and ask his supporters to come on the streets. 

*The writer is Islamabad based Researcher and Freelancer

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