Indian News Channel Zee News has complimented Prime Minister Imran Khan’s bold move to dissolve assemblies, saying that he did surprise the opposition and the whole world. The anchor praised the power of Pakistani politics, which he compared with a cricket match.
They said Fawad Chaudhry started batting from Khan’s team. At the same time, Qasim Khan Suri ended the innings with a massive sixer, dismissing the No-Confidence Motion against PM Khan, terming it unconstitutional, and a foreign conspiracy to dislodge the current government.
The anchor said PM Khan “surprised” everyone as he promised and ordered President Dr. Arif Alvi to dissolve the National Assembly. He said Khan did not let Bilawal Bhutto, chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, play his game, and in turn, he requested the Supreme Court to intervene. Imran Khan’s swing clean-bowled opposition leader and Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Shahbaz Sharif, who had started believing himself as the next prime minister. The anchorperson added that the military denies involvement in civilian politics, despite a long history of interference.
After the house was prorogued, a number of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders rushed to the PM Office and felicitated the prime minister on the “success of his surprise move.”
Later in a televised address, PM Khan said that when the National Security Council had condemned the involvement of an external force in the no-trust resolution, counting [of votes on the motion] had become “irrelevant.”
Khan said he did not act unconstitutionally, calling the move to oust him a plot orchestrated by the US. He revealed that the US had sent a threatening message through Pakistan’s envoy. He was quoted as saying that US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu had reportedly, in a meeting with Ambassador Asad Majeed, warned there could be implications if he survived the opposition’s no-confidence motion in the National Assembly.
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The PM said he had reports that PTI dissidents had frequented the [US] embassy. “What were the reasons that the people, who have left us, met people of the embassy frequently in the last few days,” he wondered.
He termed the deputy speaker’s ruling “shocking” to the opposition. Khan said the opposition was unable to understand what had happened. He added that if he had told the opposition about his surprise a day earlier, they would not have been shocked this much.
On Monday, the largely ceremonial head of state, President Dr. Arif Alvi, said on Twitter that Khan would stay on as prime minister in a caretaker role. Khan wants a general election within 90 days, though that decision officially rests with the president and the election commission.
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The Supreme Court will meet today to decide on the fate of the Prime Minister. It could order parliament be reconstituted, call for a new election, or bar Khan from standing again if he is found to have acted unconstitutionally. The court could also decide that it cannot intervene in parliamentary affairs.