Pakistan’s Imran Khan faces political trouble

Prime Minister Imran Khan had won a confidence motion last year when he dared his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) to reject him. He got 178 votes in his favour.

The opposition parties – Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and others which have 160 seats and more in the Pakistan National Assembly (PNA) – together moved a no-confidence motion on March 8.

The Speaker of the PNA is obliged to call a session and put the motion to vote in a week’s time.

Prime Minister Khan’s position has weakened this time round because of defections from his party. Two of them have said that they will vote according to their conscience.

According to reports, Khan’s PTI has 155 seats in the national legislature, and defeat stares him in the face. The Opposition has made things doubly difficult for the government by insisting that the Speaker should set in motion the procedure for the Non-Confidence Motion, or the Opposition members will do a sit-in inside the parliament house.

This could be embarrassing as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting is due to be held at the same venue on March 20-21. PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto said at a press conference that the opposition would be forced to resort to the sit-in if the Speaker tried to flout the conventions of the Constitution in dealing with the non-confidence motion.

Khan on his part has been railing at the opposition for indulging in horse-trading and the defectors for selling their souls.

The defectors have denied that they are going against the prime minister because of greed, and Shahbaaz Sharif, leader of PML-N and leader of the opposition in the PNA, refuted the charges.

The PTI’s numbers have now been reduced to 155 and he needs 172 votes to stay in office.

To add to his troubles, members of PTI had raided the Parliament Lodge and the Sindh House in Islamabad where the defectors were supposed to be staying, and the police had to intervene.

This had only sharpened the Opposition criticism that Khan has become desperate and his partymen were resorting to violence.

There is speculation as to why Prime Minister Khan’s position had become vulnerable, and it is rumoured that he has lost the support of the Pakistan army. It is the assumption of all Pakistan experts that no democratically elected political party can remain in power if it does not enjoy the confidence of the army.

Khan has denied the rumour. PPP’s Bilawal Bhutto has hinted at the ‘third force’ if the Speaker of the PNA does not allow the no-confidence motion to go through, which is an indirect reference to the army.

It however remains a surprise as to why and how things have turned against Khan, and why the opposition felt that it could strike against him because success is assured.

The opposition parties are saying that an alternate government will be formed and the prime minister would be from PML-N, which is the largest opposition party, and the agenda of the new government would be electoral reforms.

Pakistan’s next general election is due in next August-September 2023. Khan had come to power in the general election held in 2018.

It appears that Khan’s drive to corner the corrupt politicians and other grandees has not come off well.

And that his desire to work within the parliamentary system, including a weekly Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQ) which he wanted to introduce in Pakistan, did not take off.

And as unreliable new entrants to the PTI and other allies became restless and ready to jump ship, things had turned untenable. The opposition only too ready to strike got its opportunity as the PTI’s numbers dwindled in the PNA.