Khan’s hold on power weakens

A main ally of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan quit his ruling coalition yesterday and joined forces with the opposition seeking to oust him, robbing Khan of his majority in parliament as he faces a looming no-confidence vote.

Khan had been due to address the nation in the evening, but it was later postponed without a reason.

NDTV reported the decision came after Pakistani army chief and the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) met with Khan earlier in the day. The army and the ISI heads again met with the PM later in the evening, it added.

No prime minister in the country's history has seen out a full term, and Khan is facing the biggest challenge to his rule since being elected in 2018, with opponents accusing him of economic mismanagement and foreign-policy bungling.

Debate on the no-confidence motion is due to start today, leaving Khan scrambling to keep his own Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members on side -- as well as a slew of minority parties.

On paper Khan's ruling PTI and coalition partners have 176 seats in the 342-member assembly, but yesterday the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM-P) said its seven lawmakers would vote with the opposition, which has a combined 163 seats.

Khan's party does not have a majority in the National Assembly by itself and has relied on the support of coalition allies.

"We have sent our resignations to the prime minister," Amin-ul-Haq, a member of Khan's cabinet from the MQM, told local television channel Geo News.

Khan's ouster would likely mean another round of instability in the nuclear armed south Asian country, in which the military has a long record of intervening in politics.

Opposition leaders Shahbaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, standing alongside MQM's Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, called on Khan to resign before the vote now that he had lost his majority with the defection of the MQM.

"It is a tradition that if you lose majority, you should step down," said Sharif, who is widely believed to be the opposition's candidate for the next prime minister should Khan be ousted.

"We have 175 votes against the required 172," said another opposition leader, Fazl-ur-Rehman.

More than a dozen PTI lawmakers have also indicated they will cross the floor, although party leaders are trying to get the courts to prevent them from voting on Sunday.

"He will fight until the last over and the last ball," Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told reporters, using a cricket analogy to describe Khan -- one of the sport's all-time international greats before he entered politics.

The PML-N and PPP dominated national politics for decades until Khan forged a coalition against the usually feuding dynastic groups.

He 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 – a claim both sides deny.

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.

One card up Khan's sleeve could be to call an early election -- the next one must be held before October 2023.

"The best option in this situation would have been fresh elections to enable the new government to handle economic, political and external problems faced by the country," said political analyst Talat Masood, a retired general.

"The country is heading towards something unpredictable... where there is going to be a lot of chaos and problems."

Khan has railed against his domestic opponents for weeks, but on Sunday told a rally in the capital that a "foreign conspiracy" was also plotting his removal.

"We have been threatened in writing but we will not compromise on national interests," he said, without offering evidence or details.