With the declaration of a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly on March 25, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan launched a verbal attack on the Pakistan Army and the Opposition, as his three-and-a-half-year-old government faced its largest crisis. Mr. Khan claimed that the Opposition had chastised him for turning down an American proposal for a military facility to fight the Taliban, but that he would forgive dissidents who had recently quit his party.
Imran Khan says Foreign policy must be for the welfare
“The foreign policy of my country should be based on the welfare of our people.” Today, I applaud our neighbor India on its long-standing foreign policy independence. They have an alliance with the US under the Quad [but] buy crude oil from Russia,” Mr. Khan remarked at a rally in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Malakand.
“That are these individuals who wear hats and travel the country?” I was asked if Pakistan will provide the US with a military facility. I have maintained for the past 25 years that I have never bowed down before anyone and will never bend down to anyone,” Mr. Khan added, recalling that Pakistan lost 80,000 people when it joined the war on terror in Afghanistan under General Pervez Musharraf’s rule. “We are with you in times of peace, but not in times of war,” he remarked, implying that he was talking to the United States.
Visit Moscow
On February 24, Mr. Khan became the first Pakistani leader to visit Moscow in almost two decades, and he had requested a meeting with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to alleviate bilateral tensions. He has recently made a comparison between India’s current political climate and Germany’s Nazi era.
“The country as a whole has come to its senses.” It is no longer possible to deceive them. Those of my coworkers who have committed a blunder. They have my forgiveness. Mr. Khan, who referred to the Opposition and the military establishment as “stooges,” continued, “You may come back.” The Prime Minister stated that he fought for Pakistan’s independence.
“It’s better for me to take public money to save my government than for my government to crumble,” Mr. Khan remarked.
Mr. Khan’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin came just hours after Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine to conduct a “special military operation.” Mr. Khan’s political issues began almost immediately when his journey to Moscow was condemned by his domestic opponents, who blamed him for the country’s bad economic state. The political temperature escalated on March 8 when the Opposition leaders, who are backed by the Pakistan Peoples Party, tabled a no-confidence resolution. On March 17, some members of Mr. Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, deserted him, accusing him of mismanaging the economy. If the current trend continues, he will need 172 votes to pass the motion, and there is a potential he will fall short of the majority.
Mr. Imran Khan’s move toward Moscow was preceded by a trip to Beijing, where he joined many other world leaders in celebrating the Winter Olympics. These exchanges took place against the backdrop of American warnings about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political woes were exacerbated by Army Chief General Bajwa’s apparent neutrality, who reportedly pushed him to resign in the face of rising domestic dissent.
The no-confidence motion against Mr. Imran Khan’s government was announced seven months after the United States withdrew from Afghanistan, which was seen as a diminishing of the US presence in the Af-Pak theatre. The development was supposed to boost his stature in the area, but the Pakistani leader has been unable to break new ground in his relations with the United States, and his relationship with the Biden administration has remained tense. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his main opponent, has urged Pakistan to take a balanced approach to security and foreign policy concerns.
Shehbaz Sharif, Mr. Sharif’s brother and the current Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, is expected to rise to prominence in Pakistani politics in the coming days.