Former PM Imran Khan Demands Immediate Elections. 

Imran Khan was removed from office as Prime Minister of Pakistan following a no-confidence vote, making him the first prime minister in the country’s history to be sent home after losing the House’s confidence.  

The vote happened after the speaker of the House resigned, citing his inability to oversee the removal of a close ally of 30 years, and after Khan’s parliamentarians postponed the vote all day Saturday, only permitting voting close to midnight. All of Khan’s supporters left the chamber before the vote was discussed. 

Imran Khan has urged for “immediate elections” in the country, just hours after Shehbaz Sharif was sworn in as the country’s 23rd Prime Minister. 

“Let the people select, through fair and free elections, who they want as their prime minister,” Imran Khan, the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, announced on Twitter. He also stated that on April 13, he would conduct a rally in Peshawar. 

 “We are seeking early elections because it is the only way ahead — to allow the people to determine who they want as their prime minister through fair and free elections,” he tweeted. 

“On Wednesday, I will be holding a jalsa in Peshawar after Isha – my first jalsa after being removed through a foreign-instigated regime change. In another tweet on Monday, he stated, “I want all our people to come since Pakistan was formed as an independent, sovereign state, not as a puppet state of foreign countries.” 

Massive demonstrations erupted across the nation in response to the PTI supremo’s demand, with PTI members and staff taking to the streets of major cities to show their support for the ousted PM. Imran Khan said that the opposition’s vote of no confidence was part of a larger international plot against Pakistan. According to Tribune, the former prime minister claimed he had evidence in the shape of a letter issued by Asad Majeed, the former Pakistani ambassador to the US, after speaking with the US assistant secretary of state for South Asia. The US has disputed Imran Khan’s claims of a multinational conspiracy. 

“Pakistan’s National Security Committee would be briefed on a controversial letter related to the so-called foreign conspiracy,” he said, dismissing Khan’s claims as “drama”. 

The US State Department has dismissed any involvement in Pakistan’s domestic politics. On Friday, Deputy State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter told reporters that the charges were “absolutely untrue.” 

After governing Pakistan for over three and a half years, Imran Khan was ousted on April 10. The combined opposition succeeded in removing Khan from the Prime Minister’s office, despite the PTI government’s best efforts to prevent a vote on the no-confidence motion against him. 

The no-confidence motion against Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was voted on late Saturday night in the country’s National Assembly, with 174 members voting in favour of the motion, which removed the Imran Khan administration. 

The PTI MPs boycotted the National Assembly session scheduled to elect the next Prime Minister. On Monday evening, Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif took office as Pakistan’s 23rd Prime Minister hours after being selected by the country’s National Assembly. 

Meanwhile, PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz remarked that the new government would not take revenge against the PTI-led government but hold it accountable for “scandals” during its tenure. 

 “We will not seek revenge, but we will hold them responsible. Between Lahore and Bani Gala, there was a freight train (former Prime Minister Imran Khan). We will not seek revenge, but we will hold them accountable for their actions. “Maryam Nawaz briefed reporters. 

Imran Khan, 69, became the first premier in Pakistan’s history to be removed through a no-confidence motion.