9th April, 2022
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan convened a cabinet meeting for Saturday night as delays dragged on over a vote in parliament on whether to oust him.
The meeting comes hours after parliament was abruptly adjourned before the vote that Khan was widely expected to lose, prolonging political uncertainty in the nuclear-armed country.
The cabinet met and resolved that Khan should not resign.
The Khan government has also petitioned the High court that there is a foreign conspiracy involved in plans to oust him.
Khan is accusing the United States of masterminding the revolt against him, because he visited Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, at the outset of the Ukrainian war.
U.S. has denied the accusation.
Members of Khan’s party had suggested on Friday they would try to delay the vote as much as possible.
His allies had blocked a similar vote last Sunday, but the country’s Supreme Court ruled that move unconstitutional, setting up Saturday’s session.
The cricket star turned politician has vowed to “struggle” against any move to replace him.
Before Saturday’s session was adjourned, opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif, expected to become prime minister if Khan is ousted, urged lower house Speaker Asad Qaiser to ensure the vote was carried out as a matter of priority.
The speaker said he would implement the court order “in true letter and spirit”.
Khan, 69, surged to power in 2018 with the military’s support but recently lost his parliamentary majority when allies quit his coalition government.
Opposition parties say he has failed to revive an economy battered by COVID-19 or fulfil promises to make Pakistan a corruption-free, prosperous nation respected on the world stage.
The opposition and some analysts say Khan has fallen out with the military, a charge he and the military deny.
The army has ruled the state for half its 75-year post-colonial history, and no prime minister has completed their full five-year term.
It was not clear how long Khan’s allies might seek to delay the vote. Lawyer Salahuddin Ahmed, who had argued in court for the vote to go ahead, said he believed it must occur before midnight.