After a day-long high-octane drama, Pakistan’s embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan lost the no-confidence motion vote and was ousted from his chair as Prime Minister. With this, Imran Khan became the first Prime Minister to lose his position after the no-trust motion defeat in the history of Pakistan. Also, he followed the suit of all his predecessors of not completing a full term as the Prime Minister of the country, since its independence in 1947.
Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) lost the floor test in the 344-member National Assembly, after the 174 votes polled in the favour of the motion against the required majority of 172 votes. Moments before the motion was kept on the vote, speaker Asad Qasir and deputy speaker Qasim Suri resigned and PTI staged a walk-out from the National Assembly. Earlier in the day, PTI and its allies demanded a discussion on an alleged foreign conspiracy behind ousting Imran Khan as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
This came after the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled out the decision taken by the speaker of the National Assembly, Qasim Suri, to dissolve the assembly by President Arif Alvi under the direction of the Prime Minister on April 3, citing it to be an unconstitutional decision. The court had further ordered to convene a no-confidence motion vote session towards the end of April 9.
The opposition called for a no-confidence motion in the parliament after alleging Imran Khan of not fulfilling his vows to make Pakistan a corruption-free and one of the most prosperous countries in the world. In 2018, the cricketer-turned-politician, Imran Khan had campaigned for the elections by keeping forth his vision of a corruption-free Pakistan and a prosperous nation at an international level.
Notably, Imran Khan had vacated the Prime Minister’s residence even before his government lost the confidence motion, stated the reports. However, Imran Khan remained absent in the National Assembly during the proceedings.
The 69-year-old will be succeeded by the leader of the opposition and the president of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), Shebaz Sharif. He is also the brother of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, who is under medical treatment abroad since he was released from jail in 2021.
The next session of the National Assembly of Pakistan will officially elect the new Prime Minister of the country. The house will re-commence its proceedings at 2:30 pm (Indian time) on Sunday, April 10.
