Pakistan's Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed on Friday called for "mass resignations" of Imran Khan's entire cabinet, arguing that it was the “last option” before the beleaguered prime minister.
At the same time, Rashid urged Khan and his supporters to hit the streets to spread awareness about the “foreign conspiracy” to topple the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government.
"We should take to the streets and expose these hired guns. They will compromise on Pakistan's foreign policy," Rasheed told journalists at a press conference in Islamabad.
“This is how big powers execute a no-confidence motion. They buy people. They use health as an excuse and help robbers and thugs flee the country," the minister remarked.
"Now you will see that all of them will return," he stated.
The cabinet minister also declared that “foreign powers” who wanted to “put an end to our neutrality will be defeated”.
Prime Minister Khan has directly accused the US of instigating the no-confidence motion against him. He has accused the opposition of being “pawns” of the foreign power, a reference to Washington.
The remarks by Rasheed come after the country’s Supreme Court restored the National Assembly by overturning the decision of deputy speaker Qasim Suri, who on 3 April had dissolved the parliament before a no-confidence vote against Khan’s government.
Suri also rejected the no-confidence motion, paving the way for a snap election. He was acting on the advice of President Arif Alvi, who in turn follows the advice of the Prime Minister.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court took suo motu note of Suri’s decision, with the proceedings lasting for five days before the verdict was pronounced late in the evening of 7 April.
A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan unanimously declared that the deputy speaker’s decision was "unconstitutional".
In its verdict, the top court also ordered the National Assembly Speaker Asad Qasier to convene a National Assembly session no later than 10:30 a.m. PST (5:30 a.m. GMT) on Saturday.
Minutes after the verdict was made public, Khan took to Twitter.
“My message to our nation is I have always and will continue to fight for Pakistan till the last ball (delivery, a reference to cricket),” he remarked.
Then, on Friday, Khan appeared for an interview with the state broadcaster Pakistan TV, where he again seemingly took a veiled swipe at the US.
“After the 9/11 attacks, many of them associated Muslims with terrorism. When we used to raise our voice against such negative stereotyping of Muslims, they used to target us as well," he said.
Khan’s comments were made as he recalled how his government had worked with international institutions to eradicate Islamophobia across the world.
The no-confidence motion was introduced in the National Assembly on 8 March by Opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistani Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N).
The Assembly was convened for voting on the no-confidence motion on 31 March, but was adjourned by the deputy speaker.
On the same day, Khan also convened a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), which comprises Pakistan’s political and military leadership.
In the meeting, he presented “evidence” of a “foreign conspiracy” to topple his government.
A day before, Prime Minister Khan suffered a major setback after his party's ally Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) withdrew its support fpr the government, reducing its strength to 164 in the 342-member house. The opposition parties, on the other hand, enjoy a combined strength of 177 lawmakers.