RG: Final question: I know you said that you believe that the driver of your ouster was clearly internal and not driven from the outside. 05/16/2023. And so why he decided to do that? He joined me last night to discuss his career, the political crisis facing Pakistan, and his diminishing hope for a negotiated resolution. Any weak government, which does not have the support of the people, is going to struggle. 9 Apr 2022 Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been removed from office on Sunday after a no-confidence motion brought against him succeeds by a vote of 174-0. Saudi Arabia, a longtime donor to Pakistan, announced last month that future aid packages to foreign countries would be dependent on internal market reforms a clear warning to recipients like Egypt and Pakistan whose economies are characterized by bloated public sectors and military control. An economic crisis comes around every few years in Pakistan, borne out of an economy that doesnt produce enough and spends too much, and is thus reliant on external debt. [Haqqani told The Intercept and other news outlets that Khans claim is false.] Mr Bilal also thinks the stand-off is related to Mr Khan's personality. Parliaments deputy speaker has defended his ruling which blocked the oppositions no-confidence motion on April 3. Khan was arrested on May 9, 2023, by the military, and held for four days before the Supreme Court ruled his detention illegal. Khan has called a cabinet meeting later today as the no-confidence vote was further delayed. The establishment doesn't have credibility," Ms Sarfraz says. During Imran Khans tenure in office the economy was tanking slowly, and much of that has to do with the fact that he had alienated all the political parties to such an extent that no one would help him deliver on his economic programme, said Shaikh. In a best-case scenario, whats the path out of this crisis? He was not [inaudible] the powerful making money and siphoning money out of the country. You have to have some sort of an arrangement, where certain issues just have to be delivered in Pakistan. Read all the Order from Chaos content, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology. "Political uncertainty is making things even more difficult for the entire system," says Mehmal Sarfraz, a political analyst. The government has accused some judges of bias in Imran Khan's favour, and the division and furious disagreement has led to some fears of a constitutional crisis. While much of Asia has gradually become rich and stable over the past few decades, Pakistan has remained poor, chaotic, and volatile. And so I think that was one reason. What matters for political success is whether you have the support of Pakistans military. Photo: Betsy Joles/Bloomberg via Getty Images. The national assembly secretariat convinces speaker Asad Qaiser to conduct the vote, reports Geo News. Crucial to the current crisis is understanding how Khans government fell. Think of the canceled field trips and graduations this week. An Imran Khan supporter throws a stone towards police officers after setting fire to a pile of tyres during clashes in Islamabad. The courts five-member bench, headed by the countrys chief justice, has adjourned proceedings until Tuesday. So with that a lack of rule of law, Im afraid the countrys survival is at stake. Now come 10 years later, once the Soviets had left, the U.S. lands in Afghanistan. And a third one, which I preempted, luckily, and then there are 150 cases against me, although most of them are bogus cases. The Speaker had a discussion with senior officials of the parliament house, who convinced the speaker not to flout the orders of the Supreme Court, news outlet Geo TV reported. "The system is collapsing in Pakistan. The cost of living in Pakistan has been rocketing up, with sharp rises in food prices and the rupee falling against the dollar. Mr Khan, too, has pulled the government into court. He should also issue a statement saying that he stands by the Constitution, democracy and the decision of the Supreme Court like a professional soldier, he added. The crucial parliamentary session to vote on the oppositions no-confidence motion is delayed. Implementing a sustainable recovery will require enormous capacity, resources, and transparency in a country already mired in other troubles. News from April 9: Pakistans Prime Minister Imran Khan has been removed from office after no-confidence motion against him succeeds. That given what youve said, that the country, the population, has now turned against them, if they lose power, they may be pushed off the stage entirely. Shahbaz Sharifs new government has been in a state of decision paralysis and is struggling to find its footing, while the ousted prime minister is leading rallies across the country attacking the governments legitimacy and calling for fresh elections. So everything is being violated right now. And with the Taliban, when the Taliban took over, frankly, whichever government is in Afghanistan, Pakistan has to have good relationship with them. And its because the powerful media also is in the hands of the powerful, the vested interests who did not want to change. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has accused the speaker of parliament, Asad Qaiser, of committing contempt of the court by delaying a vote of no confidence. The world didnt like the outflows of refugees and weapons that came from countries like Syria and Libya. But dismantling the biggest political party, the only federal party in Pakistan, is dismantling a democracy. So therefore, you need a government in Afghanistan, which would be helpful. RG: Were you interrogated? By Caroline Davies BBC News, Islamabad The stakes have never been higher in Pakistan. Once Khan lost the militarys support though the military said it had become neutral space was allowed to the opposition to make their moves. I was just completely shut off from what was going on. So it was not pro-Taliban. It is the moment and you must catch this moment with conviction and dont follow a selected prime minister, he said. The powerful lights mounted on the border wall threaten the dark skies that make southern Arizona a biodiversity hotspot. But even agreeing on dates might not be enough, according to Ms Sarfraz. Given political realities around the world, this is certain to get worse. They beat up everyone who was in that registry office in the High Court. CNN Pakistan is teetering after former Prime Minister Imran Khan was dramatically arrested by paramilitary troops on corruption charges, sparking a deadly outpouring of anger against the. And the military courts is just because the normal judiciary just gives me bail, because of the frivolous cases. Ahmad Bilal Mehboob of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency (PILDAT) told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that the National Assembly speakers ruling on the vote of no-confidence was not only unconstitutional but even a subversion of the constitution. I mean, the judiciary today is totally impotent in stopping this violation of fundamental rights. In this case, the lower house of parliament would be restored and the vote against Khan could go ahead. And the then-army chief admitted afterward that it was him who thought I was dangerous for the country, and he engineered that conspiracy to get me out. In recent months, Pakistan has seen a resurgence of terrorism from radical Islamist groups, as well as ethnic militants in the resource-rich province ofBalochistan. But part of the indecision has to do with the fact that the main goal of the PDM was to oust Khan; they did not actually devise an alternate governance plan or economic strategy before coming into power. Khan acted unconstitutionally last Sunday in blocking the no-confidence vote and dissolving parliament, the. But the point is, it is not good for not just the region around Pakistan, not just for Pakistan. Khan is demanding that both provincial and general elections take place soon, and has threatened mass protests if the ruling government does not agree to dates. No live coverage at all. For politics-obsessed Pakistan, the biggest question remains who will win the next general election. This year, internal political instability and the flooding catastrophe have worsened it. It has left the country a political tinderbox. But I wasnt mistreated. Pakistan is on the edge of defaulting on its debt and is still waiting for a $1.1bn bailout from the IMF, which would have little impact on the $100bn total. "Pakistan doesn't have the luxury of saying this political crisis is a distraction, eventually we'll get back to where things need to be.". Yet Khan remains a popular political figure heading into elections that are scheduled for October. In the interview, Khan urged the United States to speak out in defense of the rule of law, democracy, and other Western values under threat in Pakistan. But then we discovered that it was the army chief who actually engineered this feeling that I was anti-American, in the U.S. RG: What do you think did go wrong? Al Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human Rights. Al Jazeeras correspondent Osama Bin Javaid is reporting from Islamabad that according to a government source, voting will not take place tonight. And while I think no other country can fix a country from within its only we [who] can fix the country from within but they can speak out of the violations that are going on in this country, of what the West professes to be their values. Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan is facing arguably the biggest challenge of his political career, as the opposition seeks to remove him from office in a vote of no confidence. How Shehbaz Sharif replaced Imran Khan as Pakistan's prime minister. Imran Khan's supporters blame global conditions, but public . And then I became over-reliant on the army, on the army chief, because the army is the most organized institution in Pakistan. Since then, he and his party have been the target of a relentless crackdown by the nation's military, which has ruled the country directly or indirectly for decades. The court expressed displeasure over the way . And in all of it, little regard is displayed on either side for the ongoing suffering of ordinary Pakistanis, who continue to pay the price for the countrys long history of political instability. Sardar Ayaz Sadiq from the Prime MinisterL-N, now the presiding officer of the National Assembly, has ordered the no-confidence vote proceedings to start, minutes after Khan ally and parliament speaker Asad Qaiser resigned. PTI lawmaker @asmaqadeer4 is busy scrawling "Zameerfrosh Murdabad," "Amreeka ka Jo yar ha ghaddar ha" on placards while opposition members wait patiently for the session to beginOpposition alliance plans to vote out PM Imran Khan and elect Shehbaz Sharif new leader of the house pic.twitter.com/xyhwudVvZC, Aamir Saeed (@AamirSaeed_) April 9, 2022. Speaker Asad Qaiser who was to preside over the vote, ordered by the Supreme Court, resigned prior to the vote. I mean, he was a nonentity. This is the first time a no-confidence motion against a prime minister of Pakistan has been successful. So I worked with the army chief. Shakeel Sobhan in New Delhi | Shamil Shams. There is a clause in the constitution that says that it cannot, but courts have interpreted this differently in the past particularly when it relates to constitutional matters. After reading details of a court ruling ordering the no-trust vote, which Khans allies had blocked last Sunday, Qaiser adjourned the session. Imran Khanbecame Pakistans prime minister through a most unusual route. Were there any any threats, direct or veiled, made about your future role in Pakistani politics? So the U.S. Embassy was already meeting these people, the ones who jumped ship first. Neither Khan nor his party have issued any statement so far on whether Khan would attend the National Assembly, where a no-confidence motion against him is set to be put to vote. Had he been killed, it is easy to imagine Pakistan devolving into widespread civil conflict. The opposition has also said it wants early elections, but only after delivering a political defeat to Khan and passing legislation it says is required to ensure the next polls are free and fair. If that happens, it won't benefit anyone - neither the political parties or the people of Pakistan.". Secondly, I was anti the war on terror in Pakistan. Yet the government has been mired in politicking, and the release of a $1.1 billion loan tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) remains stalled as Islamabad has pushed back on the IMFs conditions. In comparison, Pakistan is magnitudes larger and more consequential., If the economy remains in a moribund state, and there are shortages of goods and energy leading to a political crisis on the streets of major cities, that would also allow the Pakistani Taliban and other terrorist groups to begin hitting at the government more directly, said Younus, who is also vice president of the Asia Group, a strategic advisory firm. As the political situation in parliament deteriorated, things were also going pear shaped with the military, the main reason being his decision to interfere in military appointments, which was a red line for them, Shaikh said. Read about our approach to external linking. There are three crises intersecting at the moment in Pakistan: an economic crisis, a political crisis, and a security crisis that has grown since the fall of Kabul, said Younus, who described the situation as the worst threat to Pakistans national cohesion since 1971 the year Bangladesh fought for and won its independence from Pakistan. The cabinet will meet at 9pm (16:00 GMT) on Saturday, people familiar with the matter said, according to the Reuters news agency. In the 2018 election, the army didnt oppose me. Videos Video 'This is the way of Pakistan,' says former diplomat of Khan's arrest Video 5 cosas: extraditan a EE.UU. The weeks leading up to the vote, from the filing of the motion on March 8 to the vote on. Khans supporters in particular distrust anything the new government or the military says. 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