The National Assembly of Pakistan, the lower chamber of the Pakistani Parliament, was dissolved on Sunday after an appeal by PM Imran Khan, and new elections will be held in 90 days, ex-Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib said.
"The president of Pakistan, Dr Arif Alvi, has approved the advice of the prime minister of Pakistan to dissolve the National Assembly under Article 58 (1) read with Article 48(1) of the Constitution", the presidency stated.
The cabinet was also dissolved, and Khan will continue his duties under Article 224 of the Pakistani Constitution (which regulates election and by-election times, including cases when parliament has been dissolved) until an interim government is announced.
This comes after the parliament of Pakistan rejected a no-confidence motion against PM Imran Khan earlier in the day. Deputy speaker Qasim Suri suspended the motion to initiate a no-confidence vote against Khan due to "foreign interference" in Pakistan's internal affairs. The politician stressed that the motion filed by the opposition ran counter to Article 5 of the Pakistani Constitution on loyalty to the state and adherence to the constitution.
Opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto accused the government of violating the constitution and stated that the opposition will petition the Supreme Court.
Khan praised the decision and urged Pakistani President Arif Alvi to dissolve the parliament and hold new elections.
"I congratulate the nation as one of the biggest conspiracies against Pakistan failed today. They (foreign hands) failed in ousting an elected government of 220 million people", Khan said in a statement.
A Pakistani policeman stands guard on the roof of the parliament building during a special parliamentary debate on whether to join the Saudi-led military intervention against Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen in Islamabad on April 6, 2015
© AFP 2023 / Farooq NAEEM
According to federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, the motion was a "conspiracy" to topple the Imran Khan government, and it was "hatched" by ex-Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif. He said the removal of the current cabinet was meant to change Pakistan's "independent foreign policy".
Khan himself called the motion "blatant interference in domestic politics by the United States". According to the PM, Washington "threatened" him, adding that foreign powers sought his removal over his two-day visit to Moscow in February.
On 27 March, Khan told thousands of his supporters at a public assembly in Islamabad that there were written objections against his foreign policy, which were relayed to Islamabad's envoy to Washington by the Biden administration. The US, however, denied the statement, with the White House saying there was "absolutely no truth" to the allegations.
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