Political turmoil spirals with vote to oust premier
ISLAMABAD — The ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan in a parliamentary no-confidence vote early Sunday set Pakistan on an uncertain political path, with his supporters taking to the streets in protest and the political opposition preparing to install his replacement.
Tens of thousands of Khan supporters marched in cities across Pakistan, waving large party flags and vowing support. In the southern Arabian Sea port city of Karachi more than 20,000 rallied, promising Khan’s return to power. In the capital of Islamabad, the lights from thousands lit up the night sky as Khan made his way through the crowd atop a brightly colored truck.
Khan supporters accused Washington of orchestrating his ouster and his party walked out of Parliament shortly before the vote. In the end, 174 lawmakers in the 342-seat Parliament voted to depose him, two more than the required simple majority.
Khan’s successor is to be elected and sworn in by Parliament on Monday. The leading contender is Shahbaz Sharif, a brother of disgraced former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Shahbaz Sharif heads the largest party in a diverse alliance of opposition factions that span the spectrum from the left to radically religious. Khan’s nominee for prime minister will be his foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
In a televised interview, Qureshi said the party was still debating whether its lawmakers will resign from Parliament after the prime minister’s vote is taken.
Khan’s ouster comes amid his cooling relations with the powerful military and an economy
struggling with high inflation and a plummeting Pakistani rupee. The opposition has charged Khan’s government with economic mismanagement.
Khan has claimed the U.S. worked behind the scenes to bring him down, purportedly because of Washington’s displeasure over his independent foreign policy choices, which often favor China and Russia.
He has occasionally defied America and stridently criticized America’s post Sept. 11 war on terror. The U.S. State Department has denied his allegations.
Khan would seem to have few options going forward. General elections are not scheduled before August 2023. Even if the new prime minister favors early elections, this would likely not happen before
October.
Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center, predicted a turbulent time ahead for Pakistan.
“Khan’s defeat would also leave Pakistan a bitterly partisan and divided place,” said Kugelman.