Pakistan parliament adjourns before no-confidence vote against PM Khan

Islamabad: Pakistan’s parliament adjourned on Saturday, delaying a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, days after his allies blocked a similar measure.

Lawmakers will reconvene at 12.30 pm (0730 GMT), said Speaker Asad Qaisar.

Khan faces a tough no-confidence vote Saturday 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 the eve of the vote calling on his supporters to take to the streets to protest on Sunday, 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.

Thursday’s 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.

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 favour China and Russia and defied US criticism.

Khan said Washington opposed his Feb. 24 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin hours after tanks rolled into Ukraine.

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.”

“Of course, we continue to follow these developments and support Pakistan’s constitutional process, but again these allegations are absolutely not true,’”she said.

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. He said they needed to protest to protect Pakistan’s sovereignty, against an America that wants to dictate to Pakistan.

“You have to come out to protect your own future. It is you who have to protect your democracy, your sovereignty and your independence ... This is your duty,” he said. “I will not accept an imposed government.”

A no-confidence vote loss for Khan on Saturday 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 Taliban members graduated from JUI schools.

The largest among the opposition parties are the Pakistan People’s Party, led by the son of the slain Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Muslim League.

If the opposition wins the no-confidence vote, it is up to Parliament to choose a new head of government - which could be Sharif’s brother, Shahbaz Sharif. If the lawmakers are unsuccessful, early elections would be called.