END OF AN INNINGS

IMRAN IS OUSTED AFTER A MIDNIGHT VOTE The Pakistan Chief Justice ordered the Supreme Court to open at midnight if the vote is not taken Earlier, Imran Khan called a cabinet meeting where he said he will not resign and play till the last ball Pakistan A

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government, which was hanging by a slender thread all day, was ousted after 174 members of the house voted in favour of the no-trust motion, the first PM of Pakistan to face such an ignominious exit.

The joint Opposition — a rainbow of socialist, liberal and radically religious parties — needed 172 members in the 342-member House to oust Prime Minister Khan.

Earlier, on his last legs – awaiting the final outcome of the no-trust vote — Khan summoned an emergency meeting of his cabinet ministers late on Saturday night. In the meeting, he vowed not to resign and said he will “fight till the last ball”. Even as Khan claimed he was not interfering in the House proceedings, the Supreme Court was asked by the Chief Justice of Pakistan to open at midnight, if the vote is not held by then.

Just before the no-trust motion was to be put to vote, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly tendered their resignations in solidarity with Imran and in keeping with the spirit of bipartisanship.

Earlier, according to local media reports, a prisoner van reached the assembly amid speculation that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker could be arrested, if the vote was not held by midnight, as ordered by the Supreme Court. Even as the political drama played itself out, a late night alert was issued at all airports stating that no government official could leave the country without permission. Also, Pakistan Army’s 111 Infantry Brigade, known as ‘coup brigade,’ was put in charge of PM Khan’s residence; Islamabad, too, was on high alert.

Opposition leader Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President, slammed the government in a series of tweets, even calling for the arrest of Khan, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker. Another opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari alleged that PM Khan was trying to create a constitutional crisis and seeking military intervention by delaying the vote.