San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
PAKISTAN’S PRIME MINISTER IS OUSTED
No-confidence vote by opposition is first such move in the nation
Pakistan’s political opposition ousted the country’s embattled prime minister in a no-confidence vote early today, which they won after several of Imran Khan’s allies and a key coalition party deserted him.
The combined opposition that spans the political spectrum from the left to the radically religious will form the new government, with the head of one of the largest parties, the Pakistani Muslim League, taking over as prime minister.
Anticipating his loss, Khan, who charged the opposition colluded with the United States to unseat him, called on his supporters to stage rallies nationwide today. Khan’s options are limited and should he see a big turnout in his support, he may try to keep the momentum of street protests as a way to pressure Parliament to hold early elections.
Khan earlier had tried to sidestep the vote by dissolving Parliament and calling early elections, but a Supreme Court ruling ordered the vote to go ahead.
The vote comes amid cooling relations between Khan and a powerful military that many of his political opponents allege helped him come to power in general elections in 2018.
The military has directly ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 75 years and wields considerable power over civilian governments, who worry a disgruntled army could unseat them.
The opposition called for Khan’s ouster, charging economic mismanagement as inflation soars and the Pakistani rupee plummets in value. The vote caps months of political turmoil and a constitutional crisis that required the Supreme Court to sort out.
In an impassioned speech Friday, 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 favor China and Russia and defied the U.S.
Khan said Washington opposed his Feb. 24 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin hours after tanks rolled into Ukraine, launching a devastating war in the heart of Europe.
Ahead of the vote, his lawmakers addressed Parliament to express outrage about a letter Khan said told of a senior U.S. official, who was not named, who informed top Pakistani diplomats that Washington’s relations with Pakistan would improve if Khan was ousted. Human rights minister Shireen Mazari said the memo named Khan and said that if he was out of power “all would be forgiven.”
She went on to ask: “Forgiven for what? What is our sin?”
The U.S. State Department has denied any involvement in Pakistan’s internal politics. Deputy State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters on Friday there was “absolutely no truth to these allegations.”
The no-confidence vote loss for Khan brings to power some unlikely partners.
Among them is a radically religious party that runs scores of religious schools. The Jamiat-eulema-islam, or Assembly of Clerics, teaches a deeply conservative brand of Islam in its schools. Many of Afghanistan’s Taliban and Pakistan’s own homegrown violent Taliban graduated from JUI schools.
The largest among the opposition parties — the Pakistan People’s Party, led by the son of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and the Pakistan Muslim League — have been tainted by allegations of widespread corruption.