Imran voted out !
Pakistan’s prime minister found to have broken the law by attempting to stop vote going ahead !!
No prime minister has ever completed a full five-year parliamentary tenure in Pakistan, and Imran Khan looked as though he could well be the first.
"The reason his position appeared so secure, however, also helps explain his downfall. Both sides deny it, but it's widely acknowledged he came to power with the help of Pakistan's powerful army and intelligence services - and now he has fallen out with them". - BBC
"On April 10,1973, this house approved the Constitution. On April 10, 1986, Benazir Bhutto ended her exile and returned to Lahore for her struggle against Gen Ziaul Haq," Bilawal Bhutto of PPP recalled.
New Delhi
As you rise so shall you fall. One must have heard such a maxim with some variations here and there.
Imran Khan had promised moon to Pakistanis. The helpless citizenry believed him.
But the fact of the matter is Pakistan's 'Prime Minister till mid night of April 9, 2022' had banked and exploited a lot of his cricket field image and the making of a cancer hospital.
"Imran Khan worked relentlessly for decades at self-promotion. His growing cult swallowed story
after story: corruption would end in 90 days; the national treasury would overflow ....and never
again, would Pakistan see the dirty politics of horse trading," says a piece in 'Dawn' newspaper.
But all that has failed. He even could not ensure a cordial and formal bilateral relationship with
India despite being a popular 'cult' like figure among thousands of cricket fans in both the countries.
Some foreign ministry officials in Delhi did not mind confessing that a few of them grew up trying to
emulate Imran Khan's bowling gestures. Others preferred Kapil Dev but there was no dearth of
Imran's popularity.
Imran Khan's exit was messy and un-cricket like approach. Reportedly, he and his left National Assembly
post mid night, but there was no word of his stepping down.
One thing was clear, he had lost numbers in Parliament long back. Reportedly, Imran said he will not accept
an 'imported' new government.
This may sound bravado, but it does not augur for common people in Pakistan. Democracy was never its
pride possession but Imran should have made the exit with a parting smile ! Cricketers are well known
for playing the gentlemen game like 'gentlemen'. But here was a Pathan, madly in love for power
and he has his dosage of ego too.
No less than Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi once lamented about the 'failure' of Khan.
On Feb 23, 2019, at Tonk in Rajasthan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had dared his Pakistan
counterpart Imran Khan to stick to his own words as a 'Pathan' and dedicate all efforts to
fight poverty and illiteracy in the two countries.
"Aaj Pakistan ke pradhan mantri ke shabdoan ko kasauti pe kasne ki jarurat hai...
(Time has come for him to prove his own words) Let me see whether he can prove to be truthful to his own words,'' Modi
had said addressing a rally.
Recalling his first telephone talk with Mr Khan after his poll victory in 2018 and said ''I had told him you are from
the world of sports... Come let India and Pakistan get their act together and fight poverty and illiteracy.''
In response, he had told me that he (Imran) is a son of a Pathan and he will always speak the truth and also
do things in the right manner.... Thus time has come for him to prove his own words,'' the Prime Minister said
amid escalated tension between two neighbours in the wake of Pulwama attack.
But all those talks came a cropper. Imran Khan failed to host SAARC Summit and so his last minute
batting during the slog over trying to applaud India's 'foreign policy' does not make much sense.
Khan also failed to give his country an effective government. He believed in army machinations
and perhaps presumed lot of things from Kartarpur corridor and cricket star of India - Navjot Singh
Siddu.
Indian neta Sidhu lost polls himself recently and now his 'yaar dildar' Imran may vanish into oblivion too.
But according to some Imran has tried to fight back when the no trust motion was not taken up and
the National Assembly was dissolved. Speaker, Deputy Speaker and even President sided with him
but the Supreme Court of Pakistan did not.
Strategic expert C Raja Mohan writes: "Khan has qualities that his predecessors lacked, except Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto, whose charisma moved the Pakistani masses in the early 1970s. He is deeply aware of Bhutto’s
defiance which ended with execution in 1979. He now invokes Bhutto’s name and the dangers he faces
from the system that he has challenged".
Nevertheless his major failures were essentially three-fold.
In January 2022, Transparency International announced that perceptions of corruption had taken a quantum leap under 'honest captain'.
Dependency on the United States was 'traded' for equal and critical dependency upon China.
"Today, the Pakistani passport is no more desirable than before and the only foreign tourists are intrepid
mountain climbers," says islamabad-based writer Pervez Hoodbhoy.
His articulate statement highlights the obvious.
"To save his sinking ship, Captain Khan has invented the cock-and-bull story of an American conspiracy to oust him. This, he said, owes to his independent stand on Ukraine. So why hasn’t Narendra Modi — also ambivalent on Russia’s aggression — alleged the same? Khan’s groupies cannot explain why this weeks-old ‘revelation’ came only after a no-confidence motion threatened his survival".
What happens next ?
Well, Imran still remains a popular figure.
"The truth is, price rises have been significantly sharper in Pakistan than in most of its neighbours. Yet however
disgruntled many may be with Mr Khan's policies, the move to oust him is not based on a sudden wave of popular sentiment. It's down to elite political manoeuvring," says a BBC report.
One understanding is also that Imran Khan would show preference to 'power' as did the likes of Hitler,Mao and Stalin.
The xenophobic nationalism and radical religious sentiment could be his next few cards - up in the sleeves.
"Imran Khan wins out on this. Chasing money is not his first priority," says Pervez in reference to public perception that Pakstani netas are generally corrupt.
ends
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| Blogger |
“174 have recorded their votes in favour of the No Trust motion"
Imran Khan late Saturday was finally voted out from the position of prime minister through a vote of no-confidence motion — the first in country’s history — at the end of a day full of high political drama which also saw National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri resigning from their positions.
The no-confidence motion against the former prime minister was passed during a crucial session of National Assembly which commenced at 10:30am on Saturday morning and culminated in wee hours of Sunday.
As many as 174 lawmakers voted in favour of the motion to oust the premier without PTI dissenters. Ayaz Sadiq couldn’t cast vote as he was chairing the session. Treasury benches MNAs left the house after National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser stepped down from his post and handed over the charge to PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq.
“174 have recorded their votes in favour of the resolution… consequently the resolution for vote of no-confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan has been passed with a majority,” announced Ayaz Sadiq.
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Shehbaz Sharif, who is the joint opposition's candidate for the post of prime minister. Shehbaz paid tribute to all leaders part of the joint opposition, and vowed that the "new regime would not indulge in politics of revenge".
"I don't want to go back to bitterness of the past. We want to forget them and move forward. We will not take revenge or do injustice; we will not send people to jail for no reason, law and justice will take its course," Shehbaz said.
After Shehbaz, Bilawal took the floor and congratulated the house for passing a no-trust resolution against a premier for the first time in history.
"On April 10,1973, this house approved the Constitution. On April 10, 1986, Benazir Bhutto ended her exile and returned to Lahore for her struggle against Gen Ziaul Haq," Bilawal recalled.
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| Indian Parliament: Democracy thrives |
The opposition accused Khan of trying to hold the constitution and government “hostage” and commit treason after his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, tried various means, including filibustering and legal petitions, to try to stop the vote.
The opposition stated that Khan was refusing to let the vote go ahead unless he could secure a guarantee that neither he nor his cabinet ministers would face criminal cases once they stepped down. During his time in power, Khan had jailed several opposition party figures.
As Khan took meetings with ministers and senior military figures on Saturday, many feared that he would try to get Pakistan’s powerful army to step in and declare martial law rather than hand over power to the opposition, returning Pakistan to its past dark days of military interventions in times of political instability. Fears of unrest swirled and security was beefed up around the prime minister’s residence.
As concerns over Khan violating the supreme court ruling mounted, the chief justice took the unprecedented step of asking the supreme court to be ready to open its doors at midnight, should the vote not happen. The Islamabad high court also prepared itself to hear a late-night contempt of court case.
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| Shehbaz Sharif: Set to be new PM of Pak |
Know Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan's new Prime Minister
His admirers say, Shehbaz was offered to become Prime Minister of Pakistan by the establishment several times previously but he never accepted.
On 29 July 2017, Shehbaz was named leader of the PML-N, and hence Prime Minister-designate of Pakistan, following the disqualification of outgoing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after the Panama Papers case decision.
However, Shehbaz could not be sworn in immediately because he was not a member of the National Assembly.
As a result, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was made interim Prime Minister of Pakistan for 45 days, presumably giving Shehbaz enough time to enter the legislature via a by-election.
After Abbasi's election as Prime Minister of Pakistan, however, it was reported that he was likely to continue as Prime Minister for the next ten months until the 2018 general elections due to the reluctance of Shehbaz Sharif to leave the post of Chief Minister of Punjab.
In December 2017, during a party meeting between the senior members of PML-N, Nawaz named Shehbaz as candidate of the party for the office of Prime Minister in the upcoming June 2018 general election, saying that "Shahbaz had never disappointed him or the party, and had risen to prominence because of his hard work and performance."
On 27 February 2018, Shehbaz was appointed as the interim President of the PML-N. On 13 March, he was elected as the President of the PML-N unopposed.
He is considered to be a workaholic by nature and has executed quite a lot of projects for the infrastructure development and progress of the region. His schemes like ‘Sasta tandoor’ and ‘Ashiana ghar’ have been particularly impressive.
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