Pakistan Political Crisis Highlights: PML-N's Shehbaz Sharif files nomination for PM's post

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Ousted premier Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf announced on Sunday that its lawmakers would resign on Monday if Opposition candidate Shehbaz Sharif was allowed to contest election of the prime minister.

The announcement was made by senior party leader and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry while addressing the media after the meeting of PTI's Core Committee chaired by Khan. "If our objections on Shehbaz Sharif's (nomination) papers are not addressed then we will resign tomorrow," he said, adding that it was decided at the meeting.

A top officer of Pakistan's top investigative agency who was probing the PKR 14 billion money laundering charges against the joint Opposition's prime ministerial candidate Shehbaz Sharif has gone on leave for indefinite period after Imran Khan was voted out in a no-confidence motion.

Federal Investigation Agency's Lahore chief Mohammad Rizwan's application to go on leave with effect from April 11, 2022, onward, has been accepted, according to an official notification on Sunday. Rizwan's decision came a day before Shehbaz and his son Hamza are to appear before a special court for indictment on Monday.

Pakistan's media on Sunday welcomed the regime change in Islamabad, while expressing relief that a "catastrophic collision" between the pillars of the state has been averted as the minority government led by Imran Khan tried to cling on to power.

"At one point late last night, it seemed as if all the pillars of the state were on course for a catastrophic collision. Calamity seemed ready to strike at the highest levels of the state," the Dawn newspaper said in an editorial.

"Even with his ouster a near certainty, Mr Imran Khan seemed more than willing to turn a simple parliamentary procedure into a farce by forcing the heads of the judiciary and military, along with the entire legislature, to play along to the last ball' of his tiresome ruse," it commented in an editorial titled 'Back to the pavilion.'

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja is considering resigning from his position in the wake of the ouster of Imran Khan as prime minister of the country, according to sources of news agency PTI.  Ramiz, who like Imran is also a former Pakistan captain, is presently in Dubai for the International Cricket Council (ICC) meetings which concluded on Sunday.

Ramiz had only agreed to become the chairman of the Board on the insistence of Imran for whom all the players who played under his captaincy including Ramiz have a lot of regard and respect, a source well aware of the developments said on Sunday.

Ramiz was well set in a career as commentator, TV personality and expert and was busy with assignments. But on Imran's insistence he agreed to put aside all his media contacts and become chairman of the board, the source said.

Opposition politician Shehbaz Sharif submitted his nomination to be Pakistan's next prime minister to the legislature on Sunday, his party said, after incumbent Imran Khan lost a no-confidence vote in parliament after nearly four years in power.

The younger brother of three-times prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz, 70, has led a bid by the opposition in parliament to topple former cricket star Khan, and he is widely expected to replace him following a vote on Monday.

The chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had handed in his nomination papers, Marriyum Aurangzeb, a spokeswoman for the party said on Sunday.

Pakistan became an independent state in 1947; but the freedom struggle begins again today against a foreign conspiracy of regime change. It is always the people of the country who defend their sovereignty & democracy.

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 10, 2022

PTI decides to submit en masse resignations in the National Assembly. Fawad Chaudry says party to launch movement against new government, reported Pakistani Media.

As the people of Pakistan woke up to a new dawn on Sunday, the details of the gruelling and murky political activities in the preceding day and night have emerged, showing the country may have averted a damning showdown between ousted prime minister Imran Khan and the powerful Army. According to various media reports, Khan made a botched attempt to replace Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa in order to bring someone more pliant and sympathetic to his idea of foreign conspiracy and cling on to power.

BBC Urdu reported that a helicopter carrying two uninvited guests landed in the Prime Minister's House in the night and were escorted by Army soldiers to the interior of the palatial building. They two met alone for 45 minutes with Khan. No details were officially provided about the meeting but it was not held in a cordial atmosphere, the report said.

Shehbaz Sharif, the joint opposition's candidate for the post of prime minister, on Sunday vowed that the new government in Pakistan want to "move forward" and not indulge in "politics of revenge". Addressing the National Assembly soon after 174 lawmakers voted in favour of the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan after a day of high drama in the lower house of Parliament, the President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said that no one would interfere in the affairs of law and justice and would run the institutions together.

"I don't want to go back to bitterness of the past. We want to forget them and move forward. We will not take revenge or do injustice; we will not send people to jail for no reason, law and justice will take its course," the 70-year-old former chief minister of Punjab province said.

The Islamabad High Court will hear on Monday a petition seeking to place the names of Imran Khan, who has been ousted from power after losing a no-confidence vote, and the ministers in his cabinet on the Exit Control List (ECL) to prevent them from flying abroad.

"The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will hear on Monday an application requesting for placing the names of the former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-ministers on the Exit Control List (ECL), The News newspaper reported on Sunday. The ECL is a system of border control maintained by the Government of Pakistan under the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance, 1981. The people on the list are prohibited from leaving the country.

Bilawal Bhutto is likely to be appointed as the next foreign minister of Pakistan in the new government after Imran Khan's prime ministerial term came to an ignominious end following his ouster through a no-confidence motion, according to a media report.

While the positions of prime minister and president hold importance, the question of who will be the foreign minister under the new government is also important as the joint Opposition has been constantly targeting the government of Khan for their wrong foreign policies, Geo News reported. "According to rumours, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is likely to be appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, it said.

Shehbaz Sharif, the leader of the Opposition in Pakistan, is the frontrunner to become the next prime minister of the country on Monday after Imran Khan’s midnight ouster on Saturday.

The political turmoil that unfolded weeks ago in Pakistan saw Sharif take charge of the united Opposition. He is the younger brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif. The beleaguered older Sharif brother had been jailed on corruption charges in 2017 and is in the UK after being released from jail two years later on medical grounds.

Shehbaz Sharif has a known penchant for quoting revolutionary poetry and passionate speeches, many of which have started doing the rounds on social media. Sharif has served as the chief minister of Punjab for years – a bastion for the family, and is the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N). [Read Full Story]

Top leaders of Imran Khan's party on Sunday vowed to fight along with him and praised him for not "bowing down" and walking out "gracefully" after he was removed as Pakistan Prime Minister through a no-confidence vote. Despite the government's hectic efforts to avoid voting on the no-confidence motion against Khan, the joint Opposition succeeded in its month-long efforts to oust Khan from the prime minister's office as 174 members of the 342-member National Assembly voted against him in the wee hours of Sunday after a day of high drama.

Pakistan will have a new Prime Minister on Monday when the National Assembly, which was adjourned in the early hours of Sunday, reconvenes to elect a new head of the government after Imran Khan was ousted from office through a no-confidence vote, becoming the first premier in the country's history to suffer this ignominy. The combined Opposition has already named Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif as its joint candidate to replace Khan.

The marathon proceedings of the National Assembly, Parliament's lower house, were adjourned in the early hours of Sunday to meet again on Monday at 2 pm to elect the new prime minister. Khan, 69, the country's 22nd prime minister, was unceremoniously removed from the office through the no-confidence vote, becoming the first premier in Pakistan's history to be ousted through a no-trust motion.

Candidates for Pakistan's next prime minister are due to file nomination papers on Sunday after incumbent Imran Khan lost a no-confidence vote in parliament, bringing an end to the former cricket star's nearly four years in power.

Khan had clung on for almost a week after a united opposition first tried to remove him, managing to put off the no-confidence vote, which he said was part of a foreign-backed plot against him, and dissolving parliament.

But the Supreme Court ordered parliament to convene and hold the vote and Khan's government fell in the early hours of Sunday after a 13-hour session that included repeated delays and lengthy speeches by lawmakers from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

The vote went ahead after the powerful army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, met Khan, said two sources who declined to be identified, as criticism mounted over the delay in the parliamentary process.

The military has ruled the nuclear-armed country of 220 million people for almost half its nearly 75-year history.

Parliament will meet on Monday to elect a new prime minister. Nomination papers should be filed by 11:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Sunday.

The US has bluntly rejected Pakistan's ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan's latest allegations of a "foreign conspiracy" plotted in Washington to overthrow his government with the help of the Opposition parties, saying there is "absolutely no truth" to these claims. Khan has been claiming that the Opposition's no-confidence motion against him was the result of a foreign conspiracy because of his independent foreign policy and funds were being channelled from abroad to oust him from power. In an address to the nation on April 8, the 69-year-old prime minister reiterated his allegations that a senior US diplomat threatened regime change in Pakistan.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan became the first premier of the neighbouring country to be ousted from power in a midnight no-confidence vote drama that unfolded after days of political turmoil in the nation.

Twitter had a field day Imran Khan lost his top post with many pointing out that the nail-biting drama unfolding in the country deserves its own Netflix series. Several Opposition party leaders rejoiced Khan’s ouster on Twitter saying that the old Pakistan is back. [Read Full Story]

• Born on 23 September 1951 in Punjabi-speaking Kashmiri family in Lahore
• Began political career after getting elected to Provincial Assembly of Punjab in 1988
• After 1999, spent years of self-exile in Saudi Arabia, before returning to Pakistan in 2007
• Appointed Punjab Chief Minister for a second term after PML-N's victory in the province in 2008.
• Elected as Chief Minister of Punjab for the third time in 2013, defeated in 2018 general election
• Nominated as President of Pakistan Muslim League-N after brother Nawaz Sharif was disqualified
• Nominated as the Leader of the Opposition after the 2018 election
• Was arrested on charges of money laundering in 2020, Lahore High Court released on bail in 2021
• Reports claim he shares good relations with the Pakistan Army.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted from office in a no-confidence vote in parliament in the early hours of Sunday after three years and seven months in power.

A new government will be formed most likely under opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif, after parliament reconvenes on Monday to vote for a new prime minister.

The nation of more than 220 million people lies between Afghanistan to the west, China to the northeast and India to the east, making it of vital strategic importance. [Read Full Story]

No prime minister has completed a full five-year tenure in Pakistan's 75-year history - a trend extended with the ouster of Imran Khan, who lost a no-confidence vote on Sunday.

Up until that point, Pakistan, a parliamentary democracy for most of its history, has had a total of 29 prime ministers since 1947 - one of whom took on the role twice in one year.

On 18 occasions, they have been removed on different pretexts, including corruption charges, direct military coups and forced resignations due to infighting in ruling groups. There was one assassination. [Read Full Story]

National Assembly proceedings were adjourned in the early hours of Sunday and the House will meet again on April 11 at 2 pm to elect the new premier after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed from office through a no-confidence vote. Ayaz Sadiq of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, who was chairing the crucial session, said the nomination papers for the new prime minister may be submitted by 2 pm on Sunday and the scrutiny would be done by 3 pm.

He summoned the session on Monday at 11 am and said the new premier would be elected then. However, the National Assembly of Pakistan later informed on its official Twitter account that the House will meet at 2 pm. "The Sitting of the National Assembly will meet again on Monday, the 11th April, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. instead of 11:00 am," it tweeted.

Earlier, Sadiq was nominated by Speaker Asad Qaiser to chair the session after the leader of Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf , announced to step down as it was not possible for him to continue. Sadiq immediately started the voting process.

The joint Opposition – a rainbow of socialist, liberal and radically religious parties – secured the support of 174 members in the 342-member National Assembly, more than the needed strength of 172 to oust the prime minister on a day full of drama and multiple adjournments of the Lower House. No prime minister in Pakistan’s history was ever ousted through a no-confidence motion. Khan is the first premier whose fate was decided through a trust vote.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari hailed the adoption of a no-confidence vote against Imran Khan. Addressing the parliamentarians after the motion was passed, he recalled what had happened on April 10 and said on this day - Pakistan approved the 1973 Constitution.

"On April 10, 1986, Benazir Bhutto ended her self-imposed exile and arrived in Lahore to launch her struggle against former Pakistan President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq," Zardari said.

"Today [on] April 10, 2022, we welcome [you] back to the purana Pakistan," said Bilawal in the Pakistan National Assembly. "I have a message for the Pakistani youth that they should never give up on their dreams as nothing is impossible. Democracy is the best revenge," he added.

Before assuming office in 2018, ousted PM Imran Khan had vowed to create a "naya Pakistan" --- one with zero corruption and prosperous economy.