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HomeWorld NewsImran Khan loses trust vote! Ousted as Pakistan PM

Imran Khan loses trust vote! Ousted as Pakistan PM

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Pakistan’s embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday night lost a crucial trust vote, which means that the cricketer-turned-politician seizes to be the Prime Minister. As many as 174 votes were polled against Khan, 2 more than the rquired number of 172 votes, in 344 member strong assembly.

Pakistan’s embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday night lost a crucial trust vote, which means that the cricketer-turned-politician seizes to be the Prime Minister. As many as 174 votes were polled against Khan, 2 more than the rquired number of 172 votes, in 344 member strong assembly. Earlier, the member of Imran Khan-led PTI staged a walkout in Pakistan’s national assembly after Speaker Asad Qaisar resigned from his post.

Late night, Khan held an emergency Cabinet meeting, that took many by surprise. Reportedly, Army chief Gen Bajwa and the ISI chief have met with Khan. The result of the meeting is not known yet.

After the Supreme Court overturned his decision to dissolve parliament and ordered lawmakers to return to the lower chamber, one ally called the move a judicial coup and Khan said he would continue to fight “till the last ball”.

The 69-year-old joins a lengthening list of elected Pakistani premiers who have failed to see out their full terms; none has done so since independence in 1947.

In 2018, the cricket legend who led Pakistan to its only World Cup win in 1992, rallied the country behind his vision of a corruption-free, prosperous country respected on the world stage.

But the firebrand nationalist`s fame and charisma were not enough to keep him in power.

Ironically for a politician once criticised for being under the thumb of the powerful military establishment, his ouster comes amid signs of worsening relations between him and army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

The military, which has an outsized role in Pakistan having ruled the country for nearly half of its history and won control over some of its biggest economic institutions, has said it remains neutral towards politics.
At a rally last month, as he was fighting for his political survival, Khan was widely seen to be referring to that position when he said: “Only animals remain neutral.”

“They (the military) don`t want to be seen as supporting him and be blamed for his failures,” said opposition leader and former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
“They`ve pulled their support.”

LOFTY PROMISES

Handsome and charismatic, Khan first grabbed the world`s attention in the early 1970s as an aggressive fast-paced bowler with a distinctive leaping action.

He went on to become one of the world`s best all-rounders and a hero in cricket-mad Pakistan, and he captained a team of wayward stars from bleak prospects to victory in 1992, urging his players on with the famed battle cry to fight “like cornered tigers”.

After retiring from cricket that year, he became known for his philanthropy, raising $25 million to open a cancer hospital in memory of his mother, before entering politics with the establishment of his Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), or Pakistan Movement for Justice party, in 1996.

Despite his fame, the PTI languished in Pakistan`s political wilderness, not winning a seat other than Khan`s for 17 years.

This period had its dramatic moments, however. In 2007, Khan escaped house arrest by leaping over a wall amid a crackdown on opposition figures by then-military ruler General Pervez Musharraf.

In 2011, Khan began drawing huge crowds of young Pakistanis disillusioned with endemic corruption, chronic electricity shortages and crises in education and unemployment.

He drew even greater backing in the ensuing years, with educated Pakistani expatriates leaving their jobs to work for his party and pop musicians and actors joining him on the campaign trail.

His goal, Khan told a gathering of hundreds of thousands of supporters in 2018, was to turn Pakistan from a country with a “small group of wealthy and a sea of poor” into an “example for a humane system, a just system, for the world, of what an Islamic welfare state is”.

That year he was at long last victorious, marking a rare ascension by a sporting hero to the pinnacle of politics. Observers cautioned, however, that his biggest enemy was his own rhetoric, having raised supporters` hopes sky high.

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Credit: ZEE NEWS

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