Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan lashed out at the U.S. for orchestrating tomorrow's vote in the parliament regarding his ouster, hinting that he might not accept the results and calling on his supporters to take to the streets to protest what he termed a "regime change."
Opposition parties say Khan has failed to revive an economy battered by the coronavirus pandemic or fulfill promises to make his government more transparent and accountable, and have put forward a no-confidence motion due to be voted on Sunday.
"How can I accept the result when the entire process is discredited?" Khan told a select group of foreign journalists at his office. "Democracy functions on moral authority – what moral authority is left after this connivance?"
"The move to oust me is blatant interference in domestic politics by the United States," he said, terming it an attempt at "regime change."
Earlier this week he accused the United States of meddling in Pakistan's affairs, with local media reporting he had received a briefing letter from Islamabad's ambassador to Washington recording a senior U.S. official telling him they felt relations would be better if Khan left office.
In Washington, State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters there was "no truth" to the allegations.
Khan has accused the opposition of conspiring with Washington to remove him because he won't take the West's side on global issues against Russia and China. He called his opponents "robbers, cowards, deceivers."
Hours before he spoke, the head of the army, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, had said Pakistan wanted to expand its ties with Washington, D.C.
U.S. President Joe Biden has not called Khan since taking office, but the White House has denied that it is seeking to topple him.
Relations are strained in particular over Afghanistan, where Washington accused Pakistan of backing the successful Taliban insurgency that led last year to a chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces.
Yet while the government has pursued multi-billion dollar development deals with China, the United States' strategic rival, the army appears keen not to jeopardize relations with Washington, which has in the past supplied it with billions of dollars in military aid.
Bajwa told a security conference in Islamabad that "we share a long history of excellent and strategic relationship with the United States, which remains our largest export market."
He noted that Pakistan had long enjoyed close diplomatic and business relationships with China, but added: "We seek to expand and broaden our ties with both countries without impacting our relations with the other."
The U.S. embassy in Islamabad did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.
Islamabad tense before vote
Khan, who has already lost his parliamentary majority after allies quit his coalition government and joined the opposition, urged his supporters to take to the streets on Sunday ahead of the vote.
"I want you all to protest for an independent and free Pakistan," he said during a public question and answer phone-in broadcast by state media.
Meanwhile, footage aired on local broadcaster Geo News showed law enforcement personnel sealing off Islamabad's "Red Zone" area with containers and barb wires to prevent any protests during the no-trust vote.
The Red Zone houses the parliament house, the supreme court, the prime minister and president offices, and other important government installations.
The PTI has threatened that it would not let its dissidents vote on the no-trust motion. The Interior Ministry has called additional 1,500 paramilitary troops to maintain law and order on the day.
No Pakistan premier has ever completed a full term, and Khan is facing the biggest challenge to his rule since being elected in 2018. His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) effectively lost its majority in the 342-member assembly last week when a coalition partner said its seven lawmakers would vote with the opposition.
The opposition is headed by the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) – two usually feuding dynastic groups that dominated national politics for decades until Khan forged a coalition against them.
Khan requires 172 votes to hold power with a simple majority in the 342-member lower house of parliament – the National Assembly. PTI has 155 deputies.
Khan has effectively lost the majority in parliament after three of the five allies – Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Balochistan Awami Party and Jamhoori Watan Party – joined the opposition ranks.
So much so, about two dozen of Khan’s own lawmakers have also announced support for the opposition, which now claims to have a majority in the lower house of parliament and has called on the premier to step down.
According to the current tally, the PTI and its allied party, the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-I-Azam group (PML-Q), and Grand Democratic Alliance, have 162 members in the lower house, whereas the opposition claims to have the support of 199 lawmakers.
Debate on the no-confidence motion was due to start Thursday, but the deputy speaker – from Khan's party – suspended proceedings when legislators declined to first address other items on the agenda.
Khan, a former international cricket star who in 1992 captained Pakistan to their only World Cup win, hinted he still had a card to play.
"I have a plan for tomorrow, you should not be worried about it. I will show them and will defeat them in the assembly."
In the past, parties have resorted to physically preventing lawmakers from voting on key legislation by blocking access to the national assembly, leading to cat-and-mouse chases and even accusations of kidnapping.
If Khan goes, the PML-N's Shehbaz Sharif is tipped to become the next prime minister – but on Saturday the government moved to have him sent back to jail to await trial on money-laundering charges that have been pending since 2020.
The government asked a Lahore court to revoke his bail, with a decision expected Monday.
Sharif is the younger brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted and jailed on corruption charges in 2017 and is currently in Britain after being released from prison two years later for medical treatment.
Khan was elected after promising to sweep away decades of entrenched corruption and cronyism, but has struggled to maintain support with inflation skyrocketing, a feeble rupee and crippling debt.
Some analysts say Khan has also lost the crucial support of the military – claims both sides deny – and Pakistan's army is key to political power.
There have been four military coups – and at least as many unsuccessful ones – since independence in 1947, and the country has spent more than three decades under army rule.
Battle in Punjab
Coinciding with the no-trust motion in the Center, the government and the opposition are locked in an intense battle to grab power in the bellwether Punjab province, which has the highest number of lawmakers of any other provincial assembly in the country.
The PTI has nominated Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, the head of the PML-Q, as the new chief minister, whereas the opposition has pitched Hamza Shehbaz, son of opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif, for the coveted post.
Currently, Elahi and Hamza are serving as the speaker and the opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly respectively.
The voting to elect the new chief minister will also be held on Sunday.
With 183 members, the PTI holds a majority in the Punjab Assembly, whereas the PML-N and its ally PPP have 165 and 7 members respectively. The dissidents from both sides are likely to play a decisive role in the election of the new chief minister.
Elahi, who served as the Punjab chief minister from 2002 to 2007, enjoys the support of a dissident group of PML-N lawmakers, whereas Hamza has managed to get the support of several dissident members from the PTI.
Usman Buzdar from the PTI stepped down on Monday as Prime Minister Khan nominated Elahi for the coveted post to get PML-Q's five crucial votes against the no-confidence motion.