Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the dissolution of Pakistan’s parliament, ordered last Sunday by Prime Minister Imran Khan, was unconstitutional.
The country’s highest court ordered lawmakers to return to their posts, a decision that could spell the end of the prime minister’s government as early as this Friday (8).
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 last Sunday. On the date, however, the vice-president of the House, a supporter of Khan, rejected the motion, and afterwards the prime minister ordered the dissolution of the legislature.
This Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that the vote must go ahead.
Dozens of opposition members watched the decision outside the courtroom and cheered the announcement. Khan’s supporters, in turn, shouted slogans against the United States, a country that, according to Khan’s office, plotted the prime minister’s departure – Washington denies the accusation.
The prime minister has called a cabinet meeting for Friday, when he also plans to deliver a speech to the nation. “My message to our nation is that I have always fought and will continue to fight for Pakistan until the last ball,” he wrote on Twitter.
If Khan is removed from office, the new prime minister to be appointed by the opposition is expected to hold the post by August 2023, when new elections are due to be held. Shehbaz Sharif, a member of the powerful Sharif political dynasty, said after the Supreme Court ruling that the opposition must nominate him if Khan is ousted.
The opposition says it agrees to early elections, but only after Khan leaves power. The group also calls for changes in electoral legislation. Pakistan’s electoral commission said on Thursday that the earliest it could bring forward the election would be in October.
Amid an International Monetary Fund economic rescue program, the business sector also wants to resolve the crisis as quickly as possible. On Thursday, the Pakistani rupee hit historic lows and foreign exchange reserves plummeted. The Central Bank raised the basic interest rate to 12.25%, the highest in years. “As the dollar continues to rise, the country faces massive economic collapse,” Sharif wrote on Twitter.
The crisis also threatens the country’s relationship with the United States, a longtime ally. On Sunday, the prime minister said he had presented the National Security Committee with evidence that the move to remove him from office was orchestrated by the White House because his government refuses to align itself with US positions against China. The US State Department denied involvement.
Khan, 69, a famous cricketer who was notable for leading the world championship team in the 1990s, came to power in 2018 with the support of the military, which is now trying to dissociate itself from his image. “The army has nothing to do with the political process,” Major General Babar Iftikhar told Reuters last Sunday in response to a question about the military’s involvement in politics.
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.
