ISLAMABAD (AP) – On Saturday, the Pakistani political opposition rejected a motion without confidence to oust the country’s prime minister, a victory achieved after being ousted by some of Imran Khan’s allies and a major coalition party.
The united opposition, which spans the political spectrum from left to religious radical, will form a new government in which the leader of one of the largest parties, the Muslim League of Pakistan, will replace as prime minister.
While his disappearance is pending, Khan, who has accused the opposition of conspiring in the United States to overthrow him, called on his supporters to hold nationwide demonstrations on Sunday. Khan’s options are limited and if he sees a lot of activism in his support, he could try to keep the momentum of the street protests as pressure on parliament to hold early elections.
Khan had already tried to avoid voting by dissolving parliament and calling early elections, but a Supreme Court decision ordered the vote.
In a passionate speech on Friday, Khan doubled down on his allegations that his opponents had conspired with the United States to drive him from his foreign policy choices, which often favored China and Russia and opposed the United States.
Khan said Washington was opposed to its meeting on Feb. 24 with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin hours after tanks entered Ukraine and launched a destructive war in central Europe.
The US State Department denies any involvement in Pakistan’s internal politics. State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters Friday that “these allegations are absolutely baseless.”
However, Khan called on his supporters to take to the streets, especially the youth who have been the backbone of his support since the former cricket star became a conservative Islamist politician in power in 2018.
“You have to come out to protect your future. You have to protect your democracy, your sovereignty and your freedom. It is your duty,” he said. “I will not accept the imposed government.”
Khan’s options are limited, and if he sees a large turnout of supporters, he could try to maintain the momentum of street protests as pressure to dissolve parliament and move to early elections.
Losing a vote of no confidence in Khan could have brought some more likely partners to power.
Among them is a radical religious party that runs many religious schools. The Jamiat-e-Ulema-Islam, or the Clergy Assembly, teaches a deeply conservative type of Islam in its schools. Many Afghan Taliban and violent Pakistani Taliban graduated from JUI schools.
The main opposition parties – the Pakistani People’s Party, led by the son of ousted former prime minister Benazir Bhutto – and the Pakistan Muslim League – have been plagued by widespread allegations of corruption.
Pakistani Muslim League leader and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been convicted of corruption, called After Naming in the Panama Papers. It’s a collection of leaked secret financial documents showing how it keeps some of the world’s richest money and includes a global law firm based in Panama. Sharif was barred from office by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
If the opposition wins the no -confidence vote, parliament will decide on a new head of government who could be Sharif’s brother, Shahbaz Sharif. In case of rejection of representatives, early elections are held.
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Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed contributed to this report in Islamabad and Matthew Lee in Washington. Follow Katie Ganon on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Kathygannon
Source: Huffpost
