Pakistan Opposition's no-trust motion a 'last ball' for Imran Khan's political fate
Categories: FOREIGN COUNTRIES
As Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is set to face a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly on Friday, several reports say that this motion is expected to be proven as the 'last ball' to decide former cricketer turned politician's fate.The Opposition parties in Pakistan are jettisoning mutual hatred to oust Imran Khan as they submitted the no-trust motion in the National Assembly secretariat on March 8.The trust vote indicates very clearly that Khan does not have the majority support in the 342-member Parliament. That seems unlikely, given his wide unpopularity amongst the lawmakers, and the country as a whole. And to his dismay, the all-powerful Army, the final arbiter of many things in Pakistan, has decided to stay "neutral" in the tussle between cricketer turned politician, Imran Khan and his detractors.Pakistan media reports stated that the decision to oust Imran Khan was taken by General Bajwa and three other senior Lt. Generals. It was reported that all four military leaders decided not to give any escape route to Imran Khan. Imran Khan was referring to the Indian decision to buy oil from Russia despite the sanction and despite India being a member of the Quadrilateral Alliance. "Their policy is for the betterment of people," he said while addressing a public rally at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on March 20. He seems to have realized his own folly of trying to preside over the government of a failed state.He has used the ISI to stay in power, and now the same ISI is trying to remove him from power. Imran Khan had stood in the way of what was being seen as a routine transfer in the army, with Pak army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa planning to shift Director General of ISI Lt Gen Faiz Hamid as the commander of Peshawar-based XI Corps and replacing him with Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the DG ISI. The Prime Minister had refused to issue the formal notification. While domestic issues like rapid inflation have been highlighted by opposition parties in seeking Imran Khan's ouster, the former cricket captain of Pakistan must also share a part of the blame himself for having made a mess of Pakistan's foreign relations.