Mr Kahn said he had advised the president to dissolve parliament and call for new elections. Imran Khan survived a move to oust him from the post of Pakistani Prime Minister, receiving a postponement when the deputy speaker of parliament blocked a motion of censure as unconstitutional. Khan, whose fate was not immediately clear, later advised the president to dissolve parliament, leading to new political instability in the nuclear-armed country of 220 million. The vice-president of the National Assembly, Pakistan’s ruling Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, rejected the move against Khan on Sunday, saying it was contrary to Article 5 of the Constitution. Pakistan’s Dawn.com news website reported that, under Article 5, “Faith in the state is the basic duty of every citizen” and “Obedience to the Constitution and the law is [inviolable] an obligation to every citizen wherever they are and every other person at present in Pakistan. “ “Once the advice reaches the president, the assemblies will be dissolved and the process of forming a caretaker government will follow,” Hahn told the state-run PTV channel. Imran Khan calls on the president to dissolve the assemblies and calls for elections. Calls overthrow of an elected prime minister an international conspiracy pic.twitter.com/HxbqyF2bxX – Osama Bin Javaid (@osamabinjavaid) April 3, 2022 “We have decided to hold a sit-in protest in the National Assembly unless a vote of no confidence is taken,” Bilal Bhutto-Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), told reporters. “We are communicating with the Supreme Court about this violation.” Pakistan’s ousted prime minister is set to face a no-confidence vote Sunday after the opposition said he had the numbers to win. The opposition needs a simple 172-vote majority in Pakistan’s 342-seat parliament to overthrow Khan, a cricketer who became a politician. Key partners in his small but key coalition, along with 17 members of his party, have joined the opposition to oust him. On Sunday, giant metal containers closed roads and entrances to the capital’s diplomatic enclave, parliament and other sensitive government facilities in the capital. More to come
