The political crisis in Pakistan deepened on Sunday (3), after Prime Minister Imran Khan dissolved parliament and called for new elections to avoid a no-confidence motion that was supposed to remove him from power. The opposition called the maneuver treason.
The dissolution was approved by the country’s president, Arif Alvi, from the same party as Khan. In practice, Khan has pushed the issue forward, but has opened the door to a legal battle, adding to uncertainty over the future of the nation of 220 million. “We will convene the people, organize elections and let the nation decide,” the prime minister said in a televised speech.
The government says that new elections will be held in 90 days, although the definition of the date is up to the president and the electoral commission. The cabinet was also dissolved, but Khan will remain prime minister, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Twitter.
The gesture was met with indignation. Deputy Attorney General Raja Khalid, one of the country’s top prosecutors, resigned, calling the dissolution of Parliament unconstitutional. “What happened can only be expected under a dictator,” he told local media.
Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif, the favorite to replace Khan if he is removed from office, called the dissolution “nothing less than high treason”. “There will be consequences for blatant and blatant violations of the Constitution,” Sharif wrote on Twitter, saying he hoped the Supreme Court would interfere in the process.
The opposition blames Khan for the economic crisis the country is going through and for not taking enough action to fight corruption. Khan claims, without citing evidence, that the move to remove him from office was orchestrated by the United States, because his government refuses to align itself with American positions against China. Washington denies the charge.
The prime minister lost his majority in parliament after allies abandoned his coalition government in recent weeks, and suffered a series of defections within his own party, Tehreek-e-Insaf. Without the support, there was little chance of getting the 172 votes needed to survive the no-confidence vote scheduled for this Sunday.
Khan, 69, a famous cricketer who was notable for leading the team that won the country’s World Cup in the 1990s, came to power in 2018 with the support of the military, which is now trying to dissociate itself from the prime minister. “The army has nothing to do with the political process,” Major General Babar Iftikhar told Reuters in response to a question about the military’s involvement in Sunday’s events.
No prime minister has completed a full five-year term since Pakistan’s independence from Britain in 1947. The nuclear-armed country has seen four successful military coups and spent more than three decades ruled by the military.
On the streets of the capital Islamabad there was a strong police and paramilitary presence on Sunday, and shipping containers were used to block roads leading to the National Assembly. Police were seen detaining three people, but there was no sign of a riot.
Pakistan faces high inflation, dwindling foreign reserves and rising deficits, amid debts to the International Monetary Fund. In addition to the economic crisis, Islamabad faces a series of diplomatic challenges, such as the relationship with neighboring Afghanistan, controlled by the Taliban.
