Pakistan’s Constitutional Crisis: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s loss in no-confidence brought his Term in office to an end of 16 months. 174 members in the 342 member house voted to remove him. Pakistan will have a new Prime Minister and this may have been the first time in the history of Pakistan but this is not the first time that a Prime Minister has ceased from his position before his tenure. Pakistan has a flawed democracy and no Prime Minister has ever completed his tenure.
On April 10, 1973, the Pakistan Constitutional Crisis was approved by the Parliament of Pakistan. The first prime minister who started his tenure in 1947 was assassinated in 1951. After that, the condition was not stable. There were military coups, resignations, and dismissal.
Imran Khan became the prime minister in 2018 although the elections of 2018 were questioned for fairness. He solely built Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He promised a ‘Naya Pakistan’.He made anti-corruption his agenda. He made a lot of promises like creating 10 million jobs within five years. He promised to construct five million houses and spend a lot on health and education.
During his tenure, Pakistan faced several economic challenges. It was hit by massive inflation and was on the verge of a balance of payments crisis. The GDP fell from$315 billion to $292 billion from 2018 to 2022. Its foreign exchange reserves were very low and its external debt liabilities went to $91 billion.
“It seems that Imran Khan didn’t fulfill all his promises (as reported by the Dawn) and his economic mismanagement was some of the reasons for his fall”. It was also his relations with the military and the opposition. His deadlock in the appointment of the Army’s pick Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the new ISI chief created a rift between him and the army.
“Today ( dated -Monday, April 11)Shebaz Sharif the opposition’s leader became the prime minister of Pakistan. He was the one who moved the no-confidence motion. He is the 70-year-old brother of Nawaz Sharif and was the chief minister of Pakistan’s key Punjab province. He was offered the position of Prime Minister thrice by the army in the years 1992,1993 and 2006.”
On his appointment, Imran Khan quoted on PTI’s official Twitter handle that” A man who has one corruption case of 16 billion rupees and another corruption case of 8 billion rupees against him…for that person to be selected and elected as the Prime Minister, there cannot be a bigger insult to the country. We are resigning from the National Assembly,”
This change next door, a new Prime Minister could open opportunities for repairing ties. Last year army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa was in favor of trade and geopolitics. The army also agreed to follow up on the ceasefire along LoC.
Published by: Simran Mulani
Edit by: Khushi Thakur
