Defiant Khan calls for supporters to protest in street rallies

Pakistan’s embattled prime minister faced a tough no-confidence vote waged by his political opposition, which says it has the numbers to defeat him.

A combined opposition that stretches the political spectrum from Left to radically religious says it has the 172 votes it needs in Pakistan’s 342-seat Parliament to oust Imran Khan.

Khan took to national television on Friday calling on his supporters to take to the streets to protest, an indication he believed he would lose the vote, which was ordered by the Supreme Court. The five-member bench on Thursday blocked Khan’s bid to stay in power, ruling that his move to dissolve Parliament and call early elections was illegal.

The court decision set the stage for a no-confidence vote, likely to go against Khan after several of his ruling party members and a small but key coalition partner defected.

Khan doubled down on his accusations that his opponents colluded with the United States to unseat him over his foreign policy choices, which often seemed to favour China and Russia and defied US criticism.

The US State Department has denied any involvement in Pakistan’s internal politics.

Still Khan urged his supporters, particularly the young who have been the backbone of his support since the former cricket star turned conservative Islamist politician came to power in 2018, to take to the streets.

A no-confidence vote loss for Khan would bring to power in Pakistan an opposition of unlikely partners.

Among them is a radically religious party that runs scores of religious schools or madrassas. The Jamiat-e-ulema-Islam (JUI) or Assembly of Clerics teaches a deeply conservative brand of Islam in its schools and many of Afghanistan’s Taliban and Pakistan’s own homegrown violent Taliban members graduated from JUI schools.

The largest among the opposition parties – the Pakistan People’s Party, led by the son of the slain Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Muslim League – have been tainted by allegations of widespread corruption.

If the opposition wins the noconfidence vote, it is up to Parliament to choose a new head of government. If the lawmakers are unsuccessful, early elections would be called. –